


Not so Once Upon a Time

by xeuphorics



Series: Not so Once Upon a Time [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Once Upon a Time Fusion, Alternate Universe - The Enchanted Forest (Once Upon a Time), Dark Realm (Once Upon a Time), F/F, F/M, M/M, Storybrooke (Once Upon a Time), depends on the month if i have slow updates or not ngl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:35:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 29,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24560911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xeuphorics/pseuds/xeuphorics
Summary: The black fairy wanted revenge. She wanted revenge on everyone who ever wronged her, so, she decided her revenge included three children of fairytale characters. These three children lived a hard life for eighteen years, but what happens when they escape her?Alternate Once Upon a Time timeline where Robin, Neal, and Gideon all got taken by the black fairy.(timelines from the show aren't relevant)
Relationships: Gideon/Roderick (Once Upon a Time), Neal Nolan/Charlie Flynn, Neal Nolan/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Not so Once Upon a Time [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1979854
Comments: 6
Kudos: 8





	1. Dark Walls

**Robin Mills**

The cave wall is as cold as it usually was. Every time I brush my fingertips along the cold, dark walls, it's always the same, it never changes and it hasn't in the last seventeen years.

Seventeen years ago, Fiona, as I like to call her to piss her off, took a little trip to a town called Storybrooke to get revenge on her _own_ son. Fiona, mostly known as The Black Fairy, thought that it would be an _amazing_ idea to kidnap me and two other babies out of their cribs while we were asleep. 

The two other babies she kidnapped were Neal Nolan and Gideon Gold, Gideon being her own grandson. He's her favorite just because of that. 

I'm her second favorite, as I have found out that it's better to follow her rules than break them, which could cause me or my friends to get hurt, and I didn't want that. 

Gideon, Neal, and I haven't seen each other in a year, or at least, I haven't seen them in a year. Fiona had taken Neal down to the mines awhile back, and when she sends you down there, you rarely come back. Since Gideon is her favorite, he gets special privileges, plus, Fiona doesn't like boys coming in the girl's dungeons. 

I've made it my mission to reunite us, and escape this place, no matter how long it takes. 

My thoughts quickly get interrupted when I hear the door that leads to our dudgeons open. I quickly stand up, assuming it was Fiona commanding me to do something. 

I'm correct, it is her.

Fiona unlocked the door with a flick of her wrist. Okay, show off. 

Fiona is the only person here who still has access to her magic. She took away magic from anybody who had it and locked it away somewhere. I was born with magic that I've never been able to use or practice. 

"Robin, I need you for something," Fiona said and motioned for me to follow her.

I haven't left my cell in three days, I don't know if I'm happy to be out, or scared. 

The cave walls still looked the same as they always did as Fiona led me up a passage of stairs. These stairs led to her castle. 

Her castle was far worse than the cave. 

Only select few people ever get to go up to her castle, I've only been up here a few times. 

When everyone here was younger, the older kids would always tell us stories about it, about how it was haunted and if you ever go up there you'll get killed. 

I can say it's not haunted, but I never even dared to venture up here on my own, so I don't know about the killing part. 

Fiona led me to her artifact room as my eyes wandered around. The walls of the castle were grey, in fact, most everything was grey. 

The artifact room is smaller than I remembered, but probably because it's been filled with more junk. 

"I need you to dust and organize everything. I can barely walk in here." Fiona commanded and I nodded. 

"Gideon will be up here to help you too, I sent him down to the mines." She added and I held back the biggest smile. 

"And I better not see any canoodling from you two." 

I roll my eyes. "I would never _canoodle_ with Gideon." 

I could tell Fiona made a face from behind my back. "Well, get to it. And don't open the cabinet." 

"I don't want to see all your poison apples anyway." I huffed and grabbed the feathered duster that was laying around. 

I probably had worked on the room for a solid hour before Gideon showed up. 

I heard the door creek open and immediately looked up. 

"Well, well, well." I heard Gideon's voice say. 

He doesn't look as different as he did from a year ago, just lighter hair. "It's the wicked witch's daughter, should I be scared?" Gideon asked, shooting me a goofy grin and I smiled at him. 

"Shut up," I say and throw my arms around him. 

Gideon has been my best friend for as long as I can remember. Of course, I'm close with Neal too, but Gideon and I have always gotten along better. 

"I missed you," Gideon says. 

"You smell bad." 

"I've been in the mines, what did you expect?" He chuckles. 

I did as well before pulling out of the hug. "Did you see Neal while you were down there?" I ask, raising my eyebrow in the process. 

"For a second, yeah. But we had a fight a few weeks ago and he isn't talking to me." Gideon sighs, running a hand through his hair before starting to slide a pile of books on the bookshelf. 

"Oh," I say simply. "What about?" 

"Stupid crap." 

I nod, glancing over at the cabinet Fiona told me specifically not to touch. 

Obviously I'm going to try to open it anyways. 

I walk towards the corner that the cabinet sat at. "What are you doing?" I heard Gideon ask. "Checking out something." 

I hear his footsteps behind me. "Robin, you know Fiona doesn't want us to open that." 

"Chill out, there can't be anything that bad in here, besides, I probably can't open it." 

I kneel down in front of the cabinet, seeing it was locked with a lock. 

"Do you think you can find the key?" I requested, looking up at Gideon. 

"If it's even in here, yeah," Gideon mumbles and starts looking around, looking mostly inside of books and shelves. 

"Are you okay? You seem.. off." I tell him and he sighed a little. 

"I saw Roderick today." 

My eyes widen and my jaw drop.

Roderick was Gideon's childhood crush and best friend. I never was close with him but I would hear Gideon talk about him a lot. 

I only could remember how Fiona had taken Roderick from Gideon. It broke Gideon's heart at the time, and we all thought he was dead. 

"He's alive?" I ask quietly. 

"Yeah, I didn't even recognize him. Here." Gideon hands me a key that he had found from inside a small chest. "See if that works." 

I take it from him, seeing as he did not want to talk about it. 

I grab the lock with my left hand and place the key in the key slot with my right. It fit, so I turned it, hearing a click. 

I take the lock off and open the cabinet, instantly seeing a ton of different lockets, all having labels under them. 

I lean in closer and squint to read them, feeling Gideon lay his chin on my shoulder to read too. "Maria... Diego... Gideon.." My face shot up immediately. ".. Robin." 

As soon as I read my name I was grabbing the locket. I examined it in my hands, trying to figure out what it could be.

"Well, are you gonna open it?" Gideon suggested. 

I slowly open the locket, a green orb appearing, which caused me to close it quickly. 

I recognize it somehow, I try to think of what it could be before it hit me. 

I know exactly what it is. 

"Gideon, I think I just found our ticket out of here."


	2. I hope this works

**Robin Mills**

"Gideon, I think I know our ticket out of here," I say and grin.

"How? Is it a golden or bronze ticket?" Gideon jokes, definitely though confused.

I look up at him, holding up the locket. "It's my magic."

I stand up after my knees started to hurt from kneeling on the hard floor.

"Wait seriously? Are you sure?" Gideon started to look in the cabinet, grabbing the locket with his name labeled.

"I'm positive. I mean, I remember her taking it, obviously, it can't just disappear into thin air... I think." I raise my eyebrow and point my finger. "Storing all the magic is actually kinda smart of her because she could use it to her advantage so I'm about ninety-nine percent sure.. but there's only one way to find out."

"You're right." Gideon agreed and stood up. "The only question is, how do we get our magic out of.. these extremely tiny things?"

"I don't know," I say simply. "Maybe there's some sort of words we have to say."

I look over at Gideon to see his reaction as he opens his locket. He stared at the magic until it zapped him. Gideon's eyes turned to the back of his head, his eyes being fully white.

I gasp and rush over to help him but the second I got to him, his eyes were back to normal.

"Are you okay?" I ask and put my hand on his shoulder.

"I feel.. different," Gideon says and lays his hand out. "Incendia." He mumbles and a ball of fire appears in his hand. It was bright, and I was surprised he wasn't wincing in pain. I guess that's just how magic works.

I smile because of how cool that was. "Or we could just do that. How did you know that spell?"

Gideon looks at me. "It's a basic fire spell. I've heard Fiona say it a few times," He explains

I nod. I open up my locket, hoping the same thing that happened to Gideon would happen to me.

It did. It felt like the magic was consuming me as I felt it spread throughout my body. All I could see was white as images filled my head, images of things I didn't remember. Images from when I was a baby.

It stopped after a few more seconds and I look around before stopping my eyes on Gideon.

"You good? That looked freaky," He asks when I look at him.

"Yeah like you said... I feel different... like powerful even." I say and look at my hands.

Gideon interrupted my moment. "Well it's great that we have our magic back, Fiona will just take it again if we don't finish cleaning."

I groan. "Good point, she's practiced her magic, we have not," I say as I start moving piles of clothes to the corner of the room. Gideon locks the cabinet back up. "You know I wonder how she fits all the magic in the lockets since they're so small."

"They're probably bigger on the inside, like an illusion."

I get bored with cleaning after an hour. I wanted to practice my magic. I wanted to know what it felt like if it truly felt as powerful as I had imagined.

But I couldn't. I couldn't practice spells because I didn't know any if only there was a spellbook in this retched room.

"Robin!" Gideon called out as if he was reading my mind.

"Yeah?"

"I found something that could help with our magic."

My face lights up and I rush over to him.

"It's a spellbook, I'm assuming one of Fiona's old ones. It has a ton of simple spells in here. Look." Gideon explains and runs his finger among the pages, showing me all the spells.

I look at all of them, knowing none of them seemed like they could help us escape.

Until I saw one.

I move his hand away and read through the spell, smiling a little to myself

"Gideon? Do you think you can somehow come back here tomorrow and get this book?"

"If mistress Voldemort doesn't catch me, most likely. Where should I meet you?"

"At my room, it doesn't matter when just have the book with you."

~~~

I was patiently pacing around my cell, tapping my fingers against the wooden polls.

I hear footsteps and immediately wipe my head around to see who was approaching.

As I expected, it's Gideon.

"Did you get it?" I Inquired and got as close to the polls as I could.

"Did I get it?" Gideon smirks and pulls it out of his coat. "Of course I got it."

I grin. "Can you open my cell?"

Gideon nodded and flipped through the book to find the spell. Once he found it, he stuck out his arm dramatically and read it once more before closing his eyes. "Tóspringe," He mummers.

I back away from the cell door as it swung open.

I clap a little bit. "Amazing, that was amazing."

Gideon chuckles and walks in. "I know, I know. I'm amazing." He 'flips' the hair that he doesn't have.

I gave him an amused look before snapping my fingers, extending my arm out so I could take the book from him.

"Uh oh, she's snapping her fingers. That's dangerous territory."

"Just give me the book, Gideon."

"Okay, okay. So demanding." He huffed and handed the book to me.

"Thank you." I thanked and sat down on the ground, Gideon doing the same.

I admire the cover of the spellbook as if it's my first time seeing it. I flip it open and look for the spell that I had found the previous day.

When I flipped to it, I quickly re-read everything we needed to complete for the spell.

"Okay, so we have to use blood.. which means I'll just cut our hands."

"We have to _what?"_

"Come on Gideon, I know you aren't scared of getting a little cut," I smirk and he scoffed.

"I'm not _scared_."

"Mhm, sure you're not," I say and grab a sharp rock from the ground.

I hold the palm of my hand out in front of my face and cut along my hand. It hurt, but only for a few seconds. I hissed as I did so.

I grab Gideon's hand and flipped it over, cutting his as well. He hissed too.

"That burns."

"I know, I'm sorry." I frown and look back at the paper.

"What is the spell anyway? You never said." Gideon asked.

I didn't? Oops.

"It's a body-swapping spell."

Gideon makes an O shape with his mouth. "You mean I get to be _the_ Robin Mills? I'm gonna feel so powerful." He said, trying to sound blissful.

I glare at him. "I need to talk to Neal and the only way I'm gonna get to him is if I'm... well, you."

"Okay yeah, that makes sense... What do I have to do? Like what do you usually do all day?"

"I either sit in here or help Fiona, so you won't have much to do." I place both of my arms out, crossing them other each other.

"Do what I'm doing and grab my hands," I command and he obeys.

"We have to repeat 'Cambia Corporum Meum Corpora Sua Nominavi' until it works."

"Cambia Corporum Meum Corpora Sua Nominavi, got it."

I sigh. "I hope this works."

I closed my eyes and focused on my magic. " _Cambia Corporum Meum Corpora Sua Nominavi.._ " I repeatedly mumble. Gideon does the same.

I can feel the spell working. I'm slowly getting taller and I can feel my hair getting shorter.

Eventually, the spell stopped. I open my eyes and looked at Gideon, who had my face, my blue eyes, my long blonde hair.. everything.

It worked. And I grinned.

"Well? How do I look?" I ask Gideon as he opened his eyes, my voice deeper like his.

"Different... Did you do something to your hair?"

I giggle. "Yeah I got it cut, I didn't think anyone would notice."

Gideon chuckles and stands up. I do as well and look down at my clothes.

"We need to change. I doubt you would wear... this." I say and gesture to the dress I was wearing. 

"I don't know it looks pretty sexy, I think I've found a new look." Gideon flips his hair, actually getting to this time since he has.. well mine.

"Haha," I laugh sarcastically before beginning to take off my dress.

Gideon took off the robe and coat he was wearing.

"Don't look at anything," I start.

"I don't care to."

"Good, I don't either."

I throw the dress to Gideon as he throws his clothes on the ground. I roll my eyes and grab them, putting them on.

"I forgot to say if we reveal our true identities to anyone, the spell lifts from both of us... so just make sure if that happens, you're far away from-"

"Robin I hear footsteps." Gideon interrupted and my eyes widen. I run out of the cell and lock it.

I look at Gideon (who was fully dressed now) trying to think of something to say so it looked like we were having a conversation.

"Yeah so.. going down to the mines was useless today. No one found-" I get cut off by the devil herself, Fiona.

"Gideon, why are you down here?" Fiona asks and looks at me. Gideon took that chance to hide the spellbook in the cell.

"Oh uh, I had a message to give to Robin, from someone who's down in the mines."

"Why couldn't a girl do that?"

"Should it matter? She's in a cell." I roll my eyes.

Fiona shook her head slowly and looked at 'Robin.' Gideon awkwardly smiled and nodded.

"Anyway... Robin, I need you." Fiona says. Little did she know..

"Really? Can't you use him?" Gideon points at me.

That's exactly something I would've said, he knows me so well.

"No, you never finished cleaning yesterday. He's already done all his tasks for the day."

Gideon huffed. "Fine."

"Hmph." Fiona hummed and unlocked the cell door, grabbing 'Robin' by the arm and dragging 'her' out.

"Gideon? Go.. do whatever." Fiona dismissed me and basically waved me off before pulling Gideon up the staircase.

Gideon looked down at me and grinned at me before disappearing too.

I run back into the cell and grab the spellbook before heading down to the mines.

~~~

So, I don't exactly know where the mines are. Fiona has never needed me to go down to them before. She always said it was a 'boys' job. That's so sexist.

While I was wondering, I run into the exact person I wanted to see.

Neal.

"Sorry," I growled, remembering that he and Neal had a fight.

"What are you doing here?" Neal asked.

He looked no different, unlike Gideon, his hair was darker than before.

"What do you mean?" I ask dumbfounded.

"I mean," Neal starts, clearly annoyed, "You never come to this side and I strictly told you not to." He starts walking off.

I raise my eyebrow and turn around. "Why? Do you think you _own_ this side of the cave?" I didn't really mean it like that, but Gideon would say it.

Neal turns around. "No, but this is the dangerous side. The side Fiona sends all the troublemakers. The kind of people who would attack you for being her 'pet.' I don't want you to get hurt."

"Aw, you care? I thought you were mad at me?"

"I am.. But that doesn't change the fact that I _do_ still care. Now, what are you doing here?"

I cross my arms. "I have a message, from Robin."

Neal smiles a little. "How is she?"

I hold back my own smile. "She's okay, I mean Fiona treats her the same as everyone else, if not worse."

Neal turned his smile upside down. "I would help her if I could."

"I know you would. And I'm flattered- Oh crap," I begin to panic as the spell starts to lift.

I messed up, oh no.

**Gideon Gold**

I didn't think Robin's plan was going to work. Neal is super mad at me and probably doesn't even want to acknowledge my existence.

I was peacefully walking behind Fiona. Looking like Robin isn't so bad, usually, everyone treats me like I'm some sort of royalty because they're scared of what Fiona would do if they didn't, but that's not the case.

As I'm deep in my thoughts, I didn't even notice the fact that my hair was shorting and becoming darker, my nose shape-changing. That is until Fiona looked at me and gasped.

Oh crap.


	3. You broke the rules

**Gideon Gold**

I could see in Fiona's eyes that she was fuming.

I just stood there, in fear. Not for me really, but mostly for Robin.

I'm gonna do whatever I can to make sure Fiona doesn't find out it was Robin who cast the spell. 

"Gideon, would you care to _explain_?" Fiona said in a demanding tone, glaring daggers at me.

I got nervous, so I lied. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Fiona growled and pinned me to the wall with magic. It all happened so fast, I didn't even hear her say a spell.

"Either you tell me right now or we do this the hard way." She threatened.

"Fine. I cast the spell. I found my magic, does that make you happy Fiona?" I snarl.

Fiona kept her same look, her same look that sent shivers down my spine.

"Let's see the last spell you cast, then." She says, dragged me behind her with magic.

Wait.. what does she mean? How can she see the last spell I cast?

Fiona dragged me to a room in pure and utter silence. My toes were throbbing, guess that's what I get for keeping my sandals on.

When we arrived at the room, Fiona threw me to the ground.

I groan in pain as she harshly lifted me up.

What was the point of throwing me down just to pick me back up?

Fiona tightly grabbed my hands after I stood. I tried my hardest to pull them away, but her grip was strong.

Fiona closed her eyes and started to mutter a spell, basically what Robin did- wait I shouldn't think of Robin.

I try to clear my mind but it won't work, I can feel Fiona looking through my memories.

After a few moments of me panicking on the inside, Fiona let's go of my hands.

"Robin." She says with a straight face. Nothing else, just Robin.

"What about her?" I ask, playing dumb.

Fiona says nothing and walks towards the door, I follow but before I could leave, she shuts the door and locks it.

"No no no no!" I panic even more as I couldn't get the door to open. "Let me out! Don't hurt Robin!" I scream.

But it was no use because Fiona wasn't standing near the door anymore.

**Neal Nolan**

I couldn't believe what I saw.

"Robin? No, but you were-"

"Gideon?" Robin cut me off. She sighs and rubs her temples. "I know, we got our magic back and I did a spell so I could get down here, and.. I messed it up."

Questions ran through my mind. How did she get her magic back? How did she know how to do a spell? How did she _mess_ up the spell?

"How did you mess up the spell?" I blurt out since it was the last question I thought of.

"Because I wasn't supposed to reveal it was me or else it would switch me and Gideon back, and it did- And he's probably with Fiona right now," Robin explains and rubs her eyes.

"He's gonna get in so much trouble and it'll be all my fault." Robin frowns, her face looking as if she's about to cry.

I frown and quickly walk over and hug her. "He's gonna be fine. Can you revert the spell back?"

"No, I have to be in his presence." She says as she hugs me back.

I nod. I didn't show it but I was really worried about Gideon too.

There are either two ways Fiona likes to punish people. One, leave them to die behind the castle or Two, make them work as your salve and if you don't do it, she kills you.

But she already treats Gideon like a salve anyway.

Robin pulls out of the hug and takes a deep breath. "Okay, we need to find Gideon before Fiona finds me."

"It's too late for that now, dear." I hear it. The horrible voice. The voice that belongs to Fiona.

Her voice is just as scary as her.

I look behind Robin, the space where the voice came from.

Anytime Fiona entered the room, it either became cold or dark. I don't know if she was doing it herself, or if it was just a feeling I have.

I see Fiona and her goonies. God, I cannot stand her goonies.

If there's anyone I hate more than her it's them.

"Get her," Fiona ordered them.

As they started walking towards Robin, I knew I needed to act, and I needed to act fast.

I started charging a group of the goonies. I fought them, and by fought I mean punch and kick.

I'm actually pretty good at it, but it's not like I get to practice a lot.

I saw Robin throw one of the goonies back with her magic. She's so cool.

As my thoughts distracted me, I get punched in the cheek, _hard._

I put my hand on it only to take it off and see blood. I probably have the angriest look on my face.

I got prepared to lunge at the dude who attacked me, but I stopped. I stopped because I saw Robin laying there on the ground.

"Robin!" I yell and started to run to her, only to be held back.

"Don't be dramatic, she's fine," Fiona says simply as if what all just happened wasn't a big deal.

One of the goonies picks up Robin and starts to carry her away, Fiona following close behind them.

I tried to get out of the other's grips, but they were too strong.

They started to drag me towards the cells. I needed to think of a way to save Gideon and Robin, and I need I do it _fast._

**Robin Mills**

Everything was black.

I think I'm under a spell, but I'm not sure what it is.

I barely remember anything. I don't remember anything since I found the spellbook with Gideon.

As my memories slowly come back to me, I start to wake up.

I took in my surroundings after the blurry vision I had disappeared.

I was in... a bedroom? Like an actual one. These exist?

It has a bed, a wardrobe, a table. Everything.

It's pretty nice actually, I wouldn't expect Fiona to have a room as nice as this, considering every room of her's I've been in was filled with junk.

I sit up on the bed. I wanted to get up and look around, but my whole body hurt and I didn't want to move.

And I guess that's a good thing because I looked at my wrists, there are chains around them that are attached to the ground.

"Great," I mumble, and as if on cue, the bedroom door swings open.

"Fiona," I say out of despite.

She throws her long black hair behind her shoulder. "Do you know why you're here?"

I shrug a little.

"Because you broke the rules, Robin. And for that, you have to be punished."


	4. Shes in trouble

**Gideon Gold**

Loneliness.

That's what being in this room alone felt that at least.

I don't know if it's been hours, days, or years since I've been trapped in here.

I wonder what Robin and Neal are doing right now. Probably celebrating that they escaped, right? Hopefully, Fiona didn't catch them..

I'm being dramatic. It's probably been an hour at most.

I lay on the floor, my legs up against the wall as I'm thinking my thoughts.

I'm such a child, laying on the ground like this.

I think of Rodrick too, he grew up handsome. I wonder if we would've had a chance if Fiona didn't do what she did.

I should've stopped Robin from going through with her plan. It was a good plan, but I should've known it would somehow backfire on me. Fiona always wins.

I long for the day that our families might show up and save us, and then she'll be stopped. I don't have much hope for that though.

I think about the fight I had with Neal. It was such a stupid fight. He got mad at me for wanting to protect him, which he can protect himself, it's just the fact that I'm protective of him.

Neal was the first guy I was ever in love with, not like love. So obviously since he's my first love, I'm gonna be protective of him, but I haven't come out to him yet.

Instead of coming out, I used the whole 'i'm older than you' excuse, which he thought was bullshit considering I'm only a few months older.

If I ever get out of here and see him again, I'm gonna make this right.

I continue to lay here for what felt like days before my head shoots up, looking at the door as I heard the lock fiddling.

'Whoever could it be?' I thought sarcastically and roll my eyes, expecting it to be Fiona.

I get up and stand in front of the door, crossing my arms and preparing to complain to Fiona about locking me in here.

The door swung open and it wasn't Fiona at all. It was Roderick.

"Roderick? Oh my god," I say as I literally fling my arms around him, happy to be free and also happy that he was the one who saved me.

"Hey," Roderick says softly and hugs me back. "Are you okay?"

I nod and pull out of the hug, keeping my arms placed on Roderick's shoulders. "How did you find me?"

Roderick looks at me and pulls something out of my hair. "I was around when you transformed back from that spell or whatever. I saw Fiona throw you in here and..." He trails off and looks away from me.

"Ricky? And what?" I ask, intrigued but also worried that Fiona might have hurt him.

"And I think she might do something to Robin," Roderick answers and looks back at me.

My face instantly drops.

No. She should've escaped.

"Shit," I whisper, tearing up from all the stress. That's something me and Robin have in common, stress crying.

Roderick frowns and grabs my hands that I had placed on my forehead. "She'll get okay, alright? We'll save her."

I nodded a little and rushed out of the room, wiping my tears away while trying to devise a plan.

"I still have my magic, we just need Neal and then we can get the hell out of here."

**Neal Nolan**

I've always hated the cold feeling I feel when I'm in the dungeons.

For some reason, the cell I'm in is cleaner than any one I've ever been in, maybe Fiona keeps them clean since she loves her goonies.

I gotta get out of here and save Robin. I know Fiona is going to do something to her, but her punishment list is long so I have no guesses.

Not that I want to guess, I would like to find her before anyone finds out what.

I've been trying to pick the lock of the cell for hours, It's something I picked up from being here all this time, but it won't unlock.

It's probably locked with magic.

I kicked the dirt on the ground. I feel like I've failed. My dad is the famous prince charming, he would've found a way out of this within the first five minutes.

I sit against the wall and sigh as I start hearing footsteps. Someone is coming.

I get up quickly, grabbing a rock from the ground to defend myself. It isn't much but it'll do.

"Put the rock down, charming" I heard a recognizable voice say.

It was Dennis. The most annoying one of the goonies, pretty hot though. He better not try anything, I would hate to damage his pretty face.

I let out a groan and drop the rock, the rock proving that I did so by letting out an audible thud.

"The queen wants to see you," Dennis says while pulling out a set of keys. God, I cannot believe they all call her the queen. She's not a queen at all.

"Wow, I wonder why," I remarked, causing Dennis to glare at me.

He motions for me to put my hands up. I do it without a fight, if I want to get out of here, the best I can do is stay calm.

Dennis pulls me out of the cell and ties my hands behind my back. That's just great.

"You didn't have to do it with so much force," I say as if he cares.

"Yes, I did."

"No, you really didn't," I mumble. Dennis pushes me to make me walk.

And if I fell.. then what?

I walk up the staircase quickly to keep Dennis from continuing to shove me. When we get to the door, he opens it with his key and grabs my arm, dragging me out of the room.

As we walk down the chilly hallways of Fiona's castle, I notice two figures standing in one of the hallways.

It was Gideon and what seems like Roderick.

I glance over at them, not fully turning my head. I didn't want to draw too much of Dennis's attention to them.

Gideon gives me a look. I know that look. He's asking me to cause a scene.

Oh, this will be fun.


	5. The West Wing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw // fighting, cliffs

**Neal Nolan**

Gideon gives me a look. I know that look. He's asking me to cause a scene.

Oh, this will be fun.

I decided to start simple and start whistling, and I could tell I was getting on Dennis' nerves as I hear a slight groan.

That is barely anything, buddy.

The next thing I do is loudly stomp my feet.

"Can you stop?!" Dennis snapped around at me.

"Oh sorry, that's just how I walk," I say with a fake sigh.

Dennis stares at me for a second before huffing and turning away.

I took this as my chance to attack him.

I jerk my arm from him and squat down into my feet, sweeping his legs out from under him.

I hear him yelp as he hit the ground. I get up and get in a fighting position, I know how this is gonna end.

Dennis jumps up and that's when the fight begins.

Dennis attacks me with the most basic attack, a punch.

I grab his fist, which left him in shock and also left me with room to do my next move. I kick him.

He stumbles backward before running towards me, pulling him on the ground with him. I hit my head and groan.

I had to hand it to him, that was pretty clean.

Before I could block it, Dennis punched me _right_ where I have a mark from the last fight.

Ow. That hurt.

He continued to do that before I blocked and rolled us over.

I yank him up and then immediately throw a punch but he blocks, lifting up his leg to kick me. I move back before he could and do a spin kick.

And it's just a never-ending cycle of that, blocking, punching, and kicking.

Eventually, he was holding me down. I didn't see a way out until I noticed a sword that was hanging on the wall.

I use all my strength to move and shove him out of the way. I get up and start running as fast as I could towards the sword. He must've seen it as well because he was right on my tail.

I get it first though and point it at him.

"I'm not gonna hurt you with this, but you better stand down and not tell Fiona about this," I warn and he puts his hands up.

"Okay, okay.. I'll tell her you escaped."

I nod in satisfaction, gesture for him to go. "Good, now leave."

He didn't think twice before running back in the direction we came.

I look down at the sword, smiling a little. I attach it to my belt.

I make my way through the endless hallways of Fiona's castle, starting to search for Gideon.

I hope it worked and I gave him enough time to get to Robin.

**Gideon Gold**

I gave Neal the signal to cause a scene and then I was off with Roderick to find Robin.

There are a few places that she would be, it just depends on what Fiona's mood is... god I hate her.

But wherever she is, there's gonna be goonies guarding her, so just look for goonies.

.. Shouldn't be too hard... I hope.

Roderick and I scanned every possible place for where Robin, Fiona, or the goonies could be.

"They're nowhere," Rodrick sighs, defeated.

I sigh as I think of the last possible place they would be at. "If they're not here then they're in the west wing.. no one is allowed in the west wing, not even me.."

"Is there a way to get in there?"

"Yeah but.. it's heavily guarded. We'd have to go through the tunnels, but even then, there's probably some goonies down there as well, and I'm not a good fighter." I rant and rub my temples.

"Yeah you are, have some faith in yourself," Roderick says softly.

I smile a little at him. "You haven't seen me and Neal spar, trust me."

"You could always use your magic," Roderick suggests, and that makes me think.

I could use offensive magic.

I start walking towards the entrance to the tunnels, gesturing Roderick to follow me.

"We need to find Neal, we're gonna need him."

As if he read my mind, I turn a corner, and there he was.

"Good, you're here. How'd it go?"

"Perfectly," Neal says and grins at me.

You could tell from just his smile that he's the son of a prince.

"I even got a sword." He says, sounding proud.

"Great, okay. We have to go through the tunnels to get to the west wing."

I walk away from them and to the door that leads to the tunnels.

"The west wing? Are you sure she's there?" Neal asks me.

"Yes. We checked everywhere in here, it's the only place we haven't looked."

I open the door quietly and slowly go down the stairs. I didn't want to make noise in case there were goonies around.

The coast is clear.. so far. I started to speed walk through the tunnels when I reached the end of the stairs, Roderick and Neal following close behind me.

"I know these places like the back of my hand so just follow me."

It's very dark as I walk through the tunnels. I decided to whisper a fire spell so I could see better.

After what felt like ages of Neal complaining, we reach the west wing's entrance.

I wouldn't ever admit it, but I'm scared.

I defuse my fire and slowly open the door. Neal peaks his head around the corner and signals for us to follow him when he sees that the coast is clear.

The three of us sneak into the wing. It looked a lot different from the east wing. It was darker and dirtier.. which makes sense because Fiona never allowed any of us who clean for her in this area.

"Okay, the plan is to find Robin and then get the hell out of here," Neal whispers. "Do any of you have any clue where she might be?"

"No, none of us have ever been in here, Neal," I spat at him.

"And you shouldn't be in here," I hear a women's voice say. I turn and face the girl. I've never seen her before.

"Who are you?" Roderick asked her.

"Carmen, that's Mark and Gerard. They're gonna help me take care of the three of you," Carmen says in the most nonchalant way.

"Well... I don't want to fight a beautiful girl like you." Neal says from my left side.

... Are you serious right now?

Carmen crosses her arm and laughs. "I'm gonna stop you right there. You're not my type."

I had to use everything in me to hold back a chuckle.

Although, the moment wasn't even funny anymore as Carmen, Mark, and Gerard ran right at us.

I didn't know what else to do besides duck. Lucky for me, Neal and Roderick were fighting them. I crawl away from everyone and get ready to use my magic if needed.

"Gideon go!" Neal yelled at me.

Well, he didn't have to tell me twice.

I immediately run. None of the goonies chased me thank god.

I sure endlessly for Robin, having no idea where she could be.

Eventually, I see two goonies standing in front of a door.

That has to be where she is.

I hide behind the corner and lean over a little. I put all my focus onto the two goonies and throw them back with a telekinetic push.

While they were down, I took my chance to teleport to the door, unlocking it with another spell and throwing the door open.

I spot Robin on the bed, just laying there.

Thank god I found her.

**Robin Mills**

I'm so bored.

I've been locked in this room for hours. I've had to listen to one too many evil rants today.

At least whenever I escape I have gossip to tell Neal and Gideon... If I'm allowed to see them again.

I start counting how many tiles are in the window when the door swung open.

I just assumed it was Fiona making a grand entrance again, so I didn't even bother to look over.

"Robin! Are you okay?" A worried voice asks me.

I look over because I thought I was hearing Gideon's voice, and I was right.

"Gideon? How did you find me?" I ask and sit up.

"Fiona doesn't do a good job at hiding people," Gideon shrugged and frowned at the chains that are around my wrists.

"Damn, she had to be extra and make sure you wouldn't even get up?"

"No.. these dampen any sort of magic.. if she didn't, I would've been long gone by now."

Gideon nods and mumbles the unlock spell that freed my wrists from the bounds.

Finally.

I rub my wrists. "Are you okay though? Did she hurt you?" Gideon asks me again.

"No, but I found out a ton of shit about the goonies."

Gideon nods at me and stands up. "And I would love to hear it, but we have to get out of here."

I nod in agreement and walk out of the room. Gideon follows me and looks in both directions. "Where did they go..?" He whispers.

"Where did who go?"

"The goonies that were standing out here."

To the left of me, I hear the sound of magic. Yes, magic has sound, but it sounded more like a big gust of wind blowing stuff around, but I could tell it was magic.

I look over in the direction it came from and see Fiona.

"Ah, there's where they went," Gideon mumbled from beside me.

"How did you escape the room?" Fiona yells at Gideon.

"I figured out the spell," Gideon lied.

Not him also getting locked up because of me.. now I feel bad.

There are different types of unlocking spells, one from the outside of the door, and one from the inside of the door. It's weird, I know, but if the lock is on the outside, it's more complicated to unlock on the inside.

Fiona starts pacing out of rage. "I would've expected no less from Neal or her, but from _you_ Gideon? I'm disappointed."

"Yeah well, I've finally seen through my stupidity of helping you!"

Oh shit... he probably shouldn't have said that.

Fiona screams and throws a fireball at us, both Gideon and I roll out of the way.

Gideon starts throwing back balls of energy at Fiona. While he has her distracted, I wait for an opening so that I could attack her without Gideon getting hurt.

She was so distracted by Gideon fighting her in fact, that I was able to slide to the side of her, waiting for an opening.

She hit Gideon with a spark of energy that made him fly back and whimper in pain. I guess Gideon is her weak spot because she immediately stopped after noticing that he was in pain.

I take this as my chance to mumble one of the spells Gideon had tried to throw at her and use it against her.

I mumble the incantation to the telekinetic push spell which sends her flying into the wall. She fell to the ground and I'm assuming she passed out.

I really hope so, this gives us enough time to get out of here.

I stumble onto my feet and hurry over to Gideon. "You good?"

Gideon nods. I extend my hand for him to take him, which he does and stands up.

"We need to find Neal and then we can go."

"Lead the way."

Gideon does as he's asked and starts heading in the direction that I suppose Neal is in.

Halfway down the hallway, we see Neal starting to walk down it. I see him spot us and he jogs over.

Neal gives me a little side hug. "I'm sorry," He whispers to me.

"It's okay," I whisper back, honestly.

"Where's Roderick?" Gideon asks, a look of panic taking over his face.

Neal frowns a little. "Those goonies took him.. he said to go on and get Gideon and to escape."

"I can't leave without him!" Gideon snaps. "Not after he helped us!"

"Gideon, if we don't go now we're not gonna get another chance to!"

I hate to admit it but Neal's right. We need to go now or never.

Gideon sighs a little and debates his choices. He looks over at me after a while. "Robin, what do you think?"

I sigh a little. "I think.. we need to go. Roderick made his choice by telling Neal to go on without him, he wouldn't want you to get hurt."

Gideon frowns a little, disappointed with my response but he nodded a little anyway. "You're right.. I hate it but you are."

Neal decided to change the topic. "What's the plan? Is there a way to leave through the tunnels?"

"We can't use the tunnels, they would be swarming with goonies by now," I say.

"Well.. do you think there's a door that leads outside?"

"Probably but.. that's probably surrounded by goonies too," Gideon replies.

I look around the room to see any form of escape. I see all the windows along the wall.. but surely we are far from ground level.. right?

Wrong. I walk over to one of the windows and look out it. "Guys.. we can use the window. We're not that far up."

"Good idea." Neal literally throws the sword he somehow had at the window, making the glass shatter.

I hop out of it, careful not to cut myself on the glass shards. Neal and Gideon repeat my action and Neal picks up his sword.

Gideon just stands there and takes in a deep breath. "Oh my god, air."

**Gideon Gold**

"Oh my god, air," I say as I take in the smell of the outdoors. Fiona has never let me outside before.

"We can take in the sunshine later, we need to _go!"_ Neal says and starts running.

I run as fast as I could, turning back and seeing a group of goonies chasing us. "Ah, hell," I say in a frustrated tone.

All we could do is run. We don't know where we're going so it's not like we know how to lose them.

We continue to just run straight down the field that the castle was upon until we reached a cliff with a river at the bottom of it. "Oh god..." I say and look down. "What now?"

All I saw after saying that was Robin backing up a little. What was she doing?! Did she want the goonies that were chasing us to catch her?

Just then, she runs towards us again and _jumps_ off the cliff.

OH MY GOD.

I look down at the splash in the water she just made. Is that even safe? Is she okay?

"I think we have to follow her," Neal tells me, and he's right. There's no other way to escape them.

Neal and I look at each other, jumping off the cliff together.

A million thoughts go through my head as I'm falling. What if I die? I hope I'll survive. I hope the goonies don't follow us down here.. but they would never leave her.

All my thoughts went away as soon as I hit the water, everything going black.


	6. Finally Free

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw // mentions of homophobia

**Robin Mills**

I wake up from what felt like a dream.

Is this real life? Are we finally free? Am I finally free?

I cough up the water that had filled my lungs. I open my eyes and rub them, looking around, seeing how I washed up on some rocks.

I spot Neal a bit away from me and Gideon perched upon a rock.

Well, thank god they're okay.

I stand up and look around, only seeing trees for miles.

I'm so excited to explore outside of the castle, personally.

I see Neal wake up next. I speed walk over to him and kneel next to him.

He does the same thing I did and coughs up water.

"Hey.. are you alright?" I ask him softly and he nods.

"Yeah.. are you and Gideon?"

I nod a little. "Gideon isn't awake yet, but I am."

Neal and I both stand up and look over at Gideon, seeing him wake up soon after.

Gideon tries to stand but falls back in the water, arising after it almost immediately after.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Gideon says and gets out of the water.

"I want to explore the forest," Neal randomly states.

"Me too.. but we have to be careful.. There's something I have to tell you two about Fiona's goonies," I turn towards the guys and they both look at me with suspense.

"Fiona's goonies are under a spell," I start. "The only way I know that is because one, I think she was planning on turning me into one, and both of you know I would never do that willingly, and two, me and Carmen were friends once, and I know she would've never had became one willingly either."

"So basically.. All the goonies are being controlled?" Gideon asks.

"Yeah basically, and I'm not positive it's true.. but It's not like I want to go back and find out."

Neal joined in the conversation, "It makes sense. Dennis wasn't always annoying."

"Eh, yeah. He was," Gideon replies.

"No, he wasn't."

"Yes he was, you're just saying that because he's hot."

"Nope! No, no! Y'all are not going to start arguing over a boy," I whine. "Can we just go try to make camp somewhere?"

"Yeah, good idea. I can do it. I'm the one who knows all about survival after all," Neal says proudly.

"And who was the reason we escaped? Robin." Gideon argued.

"Do not involve me!"

I listen to the two boys spat the whole way through the forest. I think the whole forest could hear them, to be honest.

We finally reached an area that would make a perfect campground. It's never shaded from the trees and close to the river for when we need water, we just need to find food.

Neal started to raise his voice. "You just think I need to be protected! None of us were lucky like you and grew up protected by Fiona, I can protect myself!"

Gideon's jaw drops.

... Does Neal not know all about what Fiona did to Gideon?

"Don't you dare call me lucky! You don't understand the shit I had to go through just to make sure you and Robin never got hurt! The stuff I had to go through just because I was Fiona's favorite!" Gideon snaps at him and tears up.

Poor Neal just stands there confused before sighing.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you had it hard, I just assumed you didn't."

"Yeah," Gideon scoffs. "Well, you're wrong."

Gideon walks over to me and grabs my wrist, pulling me a bit away from Neal.

"Have you not told him about anything that happened with Fiona?" I ask him and Gideon shakes his head.

"I didn't think he would. He's always been weird about Fiona treating me differently just because we're related."

I frown a little. "I think the only way you two are going to be able to stop fighting is if you talk it out.. and when I say talk it out I mean peacefully.. not tearing each other's head off. Let him speak and tell him all the stuff you've told me.. only if you want to though."

Gideon nods a little. "I'm just as close to him as I am to you, he deserves to know too. And you're right."

"I know I am.. I'm gonna go look for food, yeah?"

Gideon nods a little. "Be careful," He says and walks back over to Neal.

I look over at them before walking off to find food.

**Gideon Gold**

Robin was right. I need to tell Neal about all the stuff Fiona has done, or else he's not going to understand my point of view.

I just hate talking about it.

"Listen.." I walk in front of Neal and start. "We can't keep fighting now that we've escaped Fiona. We're going to need work together if we're going to survive. So.. can I explain my side to you please?"

Neal nods a little and sits down on the ground. "Well?"

I sit down as well and hug my knees.

"Well.. Fiona wasn't always bad, sometimes she would give me more food than everyone or make me not have any chores.. but at the same time it was more bad than good." I start to explain as all the memories of what I'm talking about start to flash through my mind.

"Sometimes, I would do things that pissed her off.. like she didn't like me being so close to you and Robin. She also wasn't keen on me liking guys either.. but I'm not going to change that, I'm proud of who I am."

"But when I did the stuff that pissed her off so much, the ways she would punish me were always way worse than anything she ever did to anyone else.. and that's not me saying you guys didn't have it harder, because you did, but I would've given anything to be raised there the way you and Robin were. Sometimes she would lock me up, sometimes she would starve me, sometimes she even threatened you and Robin.. and I was positive she would do something to the two of you.. so that's why I wanted to protect you."

"Would she ever hurt you?" Neal asks me in a worried tone.

"No.. There were a few times I thought she would though."

Neal nods. "I never knew you went through all those things. I thought you just wanted to protect me because you thought I couldn't protect myself and I have a big ego, I'll admit that. But it makes sense why you said that now, so I'm sorry." He tells me softly.

"I'm sorry for not telling you."

"It's okay, I get it."

"Also-" I go silent as I hear a snap of a twig. "Did you hear that?" I whisper.

"It's probably just Robin."

I start hearing more walking. "Be on the alert, two of them have magic," I hear faintly in the distance.

"Nah that's not Robin! Hide!" I whisper shout and the two are us run to a nearby bush.

We both fit inside of it and watch as goonies walk on what we had claimed as our campground.

I'm so scared they would find us, or Robin. My heart feels as if it's gonna explode out of my chest.

I can't go back to the black fairy castle now that I've left it, Fiona would have my head.. and I mean that literally. I'm scared of what she would do if she saw me again.

She always had high exceptions of me, just because I'm her grandson. She always wanted me to become a goonie, but obviously that never happened, and I know she wanted me to become king of.. whatever you would call what Fiona is doing.

Neal beside me was tense too. I could tell he doesn't want to go back either.

"They're not here," One of the goonies says from near our bush.

Oh god oh god oh god.

"But they were! There are footprints."

"They look like they're going this way," Another said and pointed in the direction that Robin had walked.

Oh crap. Robin's out there alone, and they're going in her direction.


	7. Charlie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw // homophobia and internalized homophobia during Gideon's part (feel free to skip if needed)

**Gideon Gold**

_I was 14._

_"Where would you like me to place your books?" I asked Fiona as she was making me clean her room of collectibles._

_"The shelf on your left would be fine," Fiona told me and waved me off._

_I sighed a little, just waiting for her to free me from this task so I could go hang out with Neal. Hanging out with Neal was my favorite part of the day._

_Fiona walked over to me and snatched some of the books from my hand, "You are taking too long," She complained and started helping me place them on the shelf._

_I looked at the cover of the last book in my hand. It had two boys illustrated on the cover of it, who were holding hands. I didn't know there were actually.. people like me in books._

_Fiona must've noticed my staring as she harshly grabbed the book from my hands._

_"Are there any girls who have caught your eye, Gideon? What about that Robin girl? You two seem close," Fiona asked while putting the book I was recently held on another shelf entirely._

_I made a weird face. Me? liking Robin? That's hilarious. "No. Robin and I only friends," I answered._

_Fiona looked over at me "You can be honest with me, Gideon," She says with a faked soft voice._

_Could I tell her about Neal? Or even how I felt something for Roderick when he was here? Or maybe how I've just never liked a girl the way I'm supposed to? "I don't like anyone."_

_"That's shocking. I'm sure there's a girl here that you'll fall in love with one day."_

_"I don't want to fall in love with a girl," I mumble, but clearly not quite enough as Fiona looked at me with an emotion that I wasn't quite sure of._

_"Don't tell me you like boys, Gideon. I have raised you better than that."_

_"No!" I get defensive. "I just don't want to fall in love right now!"_

_Fiona still had that same emotion on her face from before. I soon realized it was disgust._

_Fiona mumbled something else that I couldn't quite understand, but she had taken a few books off of the shelves and locked them in a chest. Why?_

_"You're free to go, Gideon. I'll see you for dinner," Fiona dismissed me and I scurried out of the room._

_I completely flaked on Neal. I couldn't be seen with a boy after that. I needed to stop feeling this way. I bet I could if I tried really hard. But I don't really know any girls, and Robin would kick me in the shins if I ever dared to try anything with her._

_Fiona made me feel gross, and I didn't want to feel like that. I wanted to have her approval, and I couldn't have that if I was seen with Neal._

I woke up from the memory and took a look at my surroundings. I was in a tent, away from Fiona.

I remember that day, that was the day I decided to distance myself from my best friends, and hid in the closet. I did that for so long, too. I had until Robin and Neal both came out to me. Their bravery made me want to be brave, and I'm thankful for that.

I get up from the blanket I was sleeping under and walked out of my tent. I needed air.

I glance over at Neal's tent before sneaking away, but not too far.

I found a cliff's edge. The view was beautiful, stars twinkling in the night, small flowers growing in the grass, the ocean waves hitting against the rocks below. Let's just hope I don't fall in.

I sit on the ground and just stare at the view. _It's okay, Gideon._ A voice in my head told me, _You're free now, and you're not disgusting, you can be who you are._

**Robin Mills**

I wake up as the sun shines bright on my face..

Oh god, where am I?

I sit up and look around, groaning from the sharp pain in my back. Well.. that was to be expected from sleeping on the _ground._

I stand up and dust the grass off of my long skirt. _I was never able to find food, and I couldn't find the guys_ , I recall. That's why I slept on the ground.

I hope I'm not too far from them. We're supposed to be doing this altogether, not apart. I start walking forward, retracing my steps from the night before. If I can just remember all the twists and turns I made, I could find my way back to the guys.

I walk, and walk, and walk, but it's no use. I can't find them anywhere. I smacked myself in the forehead, should I cast a spell? Would they find me if I did that?

"Um, excuse me?" A voice said from behind me. I snap my head around to spot a girl.

The girl has long red hair, though, with the way the sun is hitting it, it makes it look orange. She's wearing a dress similar to mine while holding a basket.

"Hello," I say in response. This is my first time meeting someone who wasn't inside the castle.

She grips onto her basket, "Are you lost?"

How did she know?

"Yeah a little," I say and force a chuckle.

"Wait.. I know you," The girl says and glances over to her left. I follow her eyes and see a poster hanging on a nearby tree.

It wasn't hard to make out what it said.

' **ROBIN MILLS**  
 **WANTED**  
 **RETURN TO THE BLACK FAIRY IMMEDIATELY IF FOUND**  
 **$10,000 REWARD IN GOLD'**

Oh, that's just great. There's an illustration of me under it too.

"You're that girl."

"I've never seen that girl before in my life." I lie.

"Oh come on, don't do that. I'm not gonna return you to... her. You're a person, not her slave."

THANK YOU! I wanted to yell.. who wants to tell Fiona that?

"I've heard stories," She continued, "About the black fairy... and what she does to all those children.. You don't have to trust me on it, but I for a matter of fact won't be taking you back to there."

I raise an eyebrow at her. "What sort of things have you heard?"

"Well, that she makes you all her slaves.. and that she'll kidnap children out of their beds at night."

"Yeah.. yeah that's pretty much it," I nod.

The girl nods as well, "I'm Charlotte, but everyone calls me Charlie."

I smile at her. I don't trust this girl, but I feel as if I should, "Robin but.. you already knew that."

Charlie, as I just found out, gives me a small smile in return. "So.. what are you doing near my village instead of hiding?"

A village? I didn't see one, but now that I think about it, I can smell the smell of bread being made.

"I was looking for food and I ended up here. I didn't mean to come to your village, really."

"Oh, you're hungry?" Charlie opened up her basket before I could even answer, handing me a piece of bread, "Take it. It's banana bread," She says with a grin.

I take the bread hesitantly, she can't be trying to poison me if it came from _her_ basket, right? Unless she had been planning this...

Oh Robin, calm down. Not everyone is out to get you.

Charlie notices my hesitation and replaces the small smile on her face with a reassuring one. "You haven't met a lot of people recently, have you?"

"No one outside of the castle."

"Hm," Charlie hums and glances over at the wanted poster once more, "Well.. I have a few friends in town who might be able to help you- help you find a safe place to hide anyway."

On one hand, that seems like a good idea, vibing a safe place out of Fiona's way, but on the other hand, I could be putting more people in danger. I also have no clue where Neal and Gideon are, and I don't plan on doing anything without my best friends.

"That's a nice offer, but I'm going to have to decline. I can't ask you to go through all that trouble anyway." I tell her, which causes her to frown a little.

"I get it, and now that I think about it, it's probably not a good idea to be going into town now. At least let me give you some food for your journey."

"I couldn't possibly ask-" Charlie cut me off by grabbing my hand, dragging me behind her as she walks. "You couldn't, but I can." She tells me and grins.

"How do I know you're not leading me to my death?" I ask, half-jokingly half-seriously.

"Do I look like the type of person who would lead you to your death?"

"Looks have nothing to do with the matter! You can never know who someone truly is by just looking at them!"

Charlie turns around and looks me in the eye. "When I look at you.. I see a girl who just wants to be free. Someone who would do anything for the people she cares about, evening trusting a girl she hardly even knows."

My mouth hangs open at her. "You're good."

"I've had a lot of practice reading people. My mom is a psychologist."

We start walking again after that. "A psychologist? What is that?" I ask, intrigued.

Charlie laughs, not at me specifically, but at me not knowing what a psychologist is. "It's someone who can help you work through trauma and they study brain functions and behaviors."

"I need one of those," I say without thinking.

"I mean.. if that's what you really want. I can make you an appointment."

Charlie and I continue walking into her village. I look around the place. It looks so peaceful, with small buildings and people all around. Oh, what I would've given just to grow up in a place like this.

I duck my head down as I hear a group of people starting to approach Charlie.

"Charlotte! Who's your friend?" A man said. I continued to look down.

"Just someone from another village. Now leave us, Chad." Charlie says annoyedly and grabs my wrist. She starts pulling me away as she did earlier, but we both crashed into two men.

The crash caused my face to become visible to the man. "And who is this one?" The man asks the group, specifically Charlie.

"Margot," Charlie blurts out as the group of men surrounds us.

Margot? Of all names? And no one here cares about the fact that two girls are in danger by men?

"Last name?"

"West," I say, as in wicked witch of the west. I hope that wasn't too obvious.

"Wait- I recognize this one," A tall man said, stepping closer to me before looking over at a wanted poster of me that was hung on one of the houses.

Damnit.

He forcefully grabbed my arm, storming over to the poster and ripping it off the wall. I try to fight my arm from his grip, but it's no use. It's probably gonna leave a mark.

I contemplate using my magic. At the moment, it seems like the smartest idea, but at the same time, it's not the wise choice. As far as I know, Fiona, Gideon, and I are the only people in the land that possess magic. If I use it in this situation now, I could end up potentially putting me _and_ Charlie into an even more dangerous situation.

And at the moment, it seems like this guy only wants the money reward.

The guy puts the poster next to my face. "Robin Mills, the runaway from the Black Fairy."

One of the men makes a giddy noise.

The heck?

"We're gonna make a fortune off of you!" He grins. 

Stop grinning like a manic, dude. 

"What about the other two? The boys?" Another one butts in.

How many men are here? I look around to figure out the answer to my own question. There are about six around. 

"I don't know what boys you're talking about!" I lie as the men start to drag me and Charlie away from the village. "Do what you want with me but leave her out of it!" I yell at them. Charlie didn't need to be involved with this. As far as I know, they're going to turn me back into Fiona, and probably Charlie with me. I could see the fear on her face when I glanced at her. No one deserves the same fate that my friends and I were unlucky enough to endure, especially if I'm able to put a stop to it. 

"You know, the boys who also escaped! Niall and Gianni!"

If I wasn't worried about us being taken back to Fiona, I would've laughed at the names they referred to Neal and Gideon as. 

I look over at Charlie again, seeing her fight against the guy. I notice she still has her basket on her arm..

I have an idea, I just hope she can understand it. 

I then proceed to stomp as hard as I can on the man's toes causing him to release me. He cries out in pain and grabs his toe. I use that as my opportunity to shove him on the ground. The other men saw what was happening and begin trying to fight with me, all except the man holding onto Charlie. 

One of the guys throws a punch at me, I duck under him and kick him in the side of his rib cage. He grabs his side and I continue fighting the other men. One punches me right in the stomach which knocks my breath out of me. "How dare you punch a girl!" I hiss at him before falling over. "Charlie! Your basket!" I yell out, not sure at where, but just out.

Charlie bites the arm of the man that was holding onto her before hitting him over the head with her basket when he let go of her. She proceeded to use her basket as her weapon. I get up as the guys were distracted by Charlie and start running towards a hill, gesturing at Charlie to follow me. 

I hope this goes somewhere.

Charlie and I run up the hill, it was a challenge, but it caused all the men who were chasing us to be slow. It helped that the two of us were younger and they were older and not as in shape. 

We make it to the top and I spot a castle. It's a very different looking castle from Fiona's. I figure this is our only escape route for now. "Come on!" I shout at Charlie and start running there.

"Robin! No! Not there!" Charlie yells worriedly, but she follows me anyway. She doesn't really have much of a choice right now. 

We make it through the door after running down the long stone bridge that led us to the door. aI face them, seeing as the men were almost towards us. 

I put my hands up and yell. "Colloportus!" 

The spell causes the doors to fly shut. I hope that worked.

And it seems as if it did as all I could hear echoing through the castle was the men struggling to open the door. 

"We need to hurry before that wears off," I tell Charlie and begin to jog through the castle.

"Hold on-" She starts, clearly out of breath. "I need just a second," She says and sits down. 

I figure I could use a break too or else I won't have any energy left to find the boys. I sit down next to her and look around. "What is it about this place that made you not want to come in here?" 

Charlie starts tracing the lines on her hands. "It was the dark one's castle. Apparently, it's cursed."

I raise my eyebrow. I swear I heard the name the dark one before, but I wasn't sure from where. "Whos the dark one?"

"Rumpelstiltskin.. or he was. He left this realm a long time ago."

Rumpelstiltskin! That's Gideon's dad... I need to bring him here one day.

"My friend Gideon would love this," I say, but more to myself. 

"Was that thing you did with the doors magic?"

"Yeah, I'm not very good at magic, though. Just a basic spell I've learned."

Charlie looks at me with amazement. "That's so cool! I'm sure there could be something around here that could help you be better at it."

I like this girl, and I know I can trust her. If she wanted to turn me in, she would've when she had the chance. 

"Didn't you say this place was cursed?"

Charlie stands up. "Yeah but.. I'm sure someone made it up," She smiles at me and walks into the room we sat next to, I scramble up behind her.

The room is very.. red. Red walls, red carpet, red rug. The rug and carpet aren't as noticeable as the room is destroyed. 

"Whoever came in here was _not_ having a good day," I mumble and start to climb over the things on the floor. 

Charlie heads over to one end of the room and me another. There's a lot of books scattered along the floor, along with what seemed to be ripped up curtains. I look at the cover of some of the books that were on the floor, recognizing a few that Fiona had also owned. My eyes then land on an unusual looking book. I pick it up and wipe the dust that was on it before reading the title.

**Magic Handbook. Spells and Magic guide for witches and wizards.**

I grin at it. "Charlie, you were right. I found something!" I walk over to her to show her the book I found. 

Her gaze is fixed on something in the corner of the room, I look over in her direction and see it's a bow and arrow that's hanging on the wall. 

I gasp. A bow and arrow! I've never seen one in person before. 

I hand the book over to Charlie and walk over to it, grabbing it off the wall. I run my fingers over the handle of the bow and see a very small **R.H** carved into it. 

"This was my dad's," Charlie looked at me confused. 

"Your dad's?"

I back up away from the wall and prepare an arrow for a shot. I attach the arrow to the string and pull it back with my arm.

"Robin? Have you ever used one of those before?"

I focus on the wall I was targetting "Nope." 

"Robin.. Be careful."

When I felt confident enough, I let go of the arrow, the arrow going exactly where I wanted it to. 

I smile widely and Charlie gasps. "And you said you've never used a bow and arrow before? That was a perfect shot!" 

Yeah, it was. Thank you, dad. 

"Well.. my name is Robin, my father Robin Hood.. Maybe I take after him a little."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you skipped over Gideon's part, it was basically just a flashback at his time with Fiona and him being proud of who he is!
> 
> Also, this book might start having slow updates as the holidays start, and I'm currently writing another fanfic and I like to bounce between the two when updating.. so bare with me


	8. Exterminate some goonies!

**Neal Nolan**

Sleep. Such a wonderful thing, isn't it? I never really got much of it in Fiona's castle. When I was younger, I thought all the cells in my hallway were haunted, I never wanted to sleep because of it. That caused my sleeping schedule to never be the same (even when I grew out of the fear, my body could never get used to sleeping at different times), oh, and the rats.

The dream I was currently having was nice. I was on the beach, listening to the sound of the waves crashing down onto the water, the chill breeze blowing onto my face as it moved past me, my feet buried deep into the sand.

I hope one day to find a beach, maybe with Gideon and Robin, though I wouldn't mind being alone. I was used to being alone. The beach had always been something I fantasized about, after seeing it be illustrated in some of the books Robin had stolen from Fiona, my mind never erased it. At a young age, I thought it was the most beautiful drawing I had ever seen.

In my dream, I'm also alone. Is this what peace feels like? Is this what it will feel like when we can all finally live a normal life?

But what _is_ a normal life?

"Neal?" That was Robin. I could recognize her voice from anywhere.. but what was she doing in my dream suddenly?

"Robin? What are you doing here?" I ask.

"Oh, I have so much to tell you about!" Robin says excitedly.

She has the look of adventure gleaming in her eyes. "Was finding food eventful, then?" I raise an eyebrow at her.

"Oh yes, very. But before I start, I'm sorry I left you and Gideon. I did intend to get food but I got a little.. sidetracked. I'll come back in a few days, though. Just don't tear each other to shreds while I'm gone, please."

"Darn, there goes my fun," I joke.

"Secondly, you probably think this is a dream, this whole place is but me visiting you isn't. I found a spellbook and one of the spells in there was a dream spell, so I'm visiting you in a dream to tell you all this."

I nod, did she just happen to have the spellbook with her when we left? Where did she find one? And where even is _she_?

"What?" Was all I could say, "Why didn't you visit Gideon? He would understand this better than me," I ask curiously, and it was true. Gideon understands way more about magic than he lets on. He probably saw Fiona do a lot of it, as she used it as her main source of power.

"Gideon's awake," She says with a shrug. I nod in response.

I decide to ask more of my questions. "Where did you find a spellbook?"

"In an abandoned castle, this girl I met and I were running away from some guys that were trying to take me back to Fiona. You would've been proud of the fighting skills I used there.." Robin trails off. I knew I taught her well.

"Anyway," She continues, "I found a few things in that castle, which includes that spellbook."

She met a girl? Who? "Who's the girl you met?"

"Her name is Charlie. I think you would like her."

"Can we trust her?"

"I think so, as soon as I met her she said she wouldn't return me to Fiona, and she had plenty of chances to."

"Well if you do then I do too," I tell.

Robin smiles a little at me. I smile back in return.

"What about you? What have you and Gideon been up to?"

"We made up, so that's good. But it turns out the goonies are looking for us."

Robin scrunches her face as if she was cringing. "And there are people who would turn us back in to get Fiona's prize money. So just be careful."

"We will, and you too. I'll try to meet back up with you soon, yeah?"

"That's a plan," Robin agrees and gets up. "I better go and get some sleep myself. Sleep well, Charming," She grins at me before disappearing from my dream world.

Well, that sure was interesting.

I wake up after that. I wasn't sure how long after, I don't remember the rest of the dream. I squint my eyes as the sun beams into my tent. Gideon had used a spell to transfigure two leaves into two tents. Not sure _how_ he knew that one without a spellbook, but he did. I need to ask him about that one day.

I sat up and ran my hands through my hair to straighten it out some before walking out of my tent, seeing Gideon sitting on a log that we had put down around our campfire, which was now defused.

Gideon hears me starting to walk over towards him and perks up. "Was wondering when you would wake up."

"How long have you been awake?" I sit down next to him, starving. I'll need to start looking for food later. Maybe I can find Robin wherever she is, she might have some.

"For a couple of hours. Bad dream."

I wasn't going to ask. I could tell by the look on Gideon's face that he didn't want to talk about it. "Speaking of dreams, Robin visited me in mine."

"She did? How did she learn that?"

I explain to Gideon what Robin told me. I also told him about the girl named Charlie, and how Robin said we could trust her.

"Not her exploring a castle without us.." Gideon mumbles.

"Apparently she was outrunning men."

"Of course it was men," Gideon rolls his eyes. "Men don't know how to behave themselves.. and I say that while being a man."

I chuckle a little, "Some men."

"Yes. Some."

We sit in comfortable silence after that. "Look at us," Gideon begins, "We made up without Robin's help!"

"Look at us go!" I joke and we both laugh before going back into that comfortable silence.

Gideon looks over at me before looking back down, "Neal?"

"Hm?" I hum.

"I know you- I know you used to be jealous of the way Fiona treated me because I would get special privileges or whatever, and I know you know now that I didn't get to, but I still wanted to talk about it."

I didn't, but I get why he wanted to. We've never had any serious discussions about the trauma we share from Fiona before, well, before yesterday.

"I wasn't.. jealous, really. I knew she treated you like a slave, I just wanted to be treated differently from the others considering everyone thought me, you, and Robin were like the 'chosen three' or something like that. I know now though that she didn't treat you the way you deserve to be treated, but from my point of view it never seemed like any of that."

I watch as Gideon takes in all the words I just said. "Yeah.. yeah. I think most people felt the same way, Fiona manipulated it anyway."

"She did with a lot of stuff," I agree.

"But we're freed from her now," Gideon says optimistically.

"Yeah.. if we don't count the goonies and the award for finding us, then yes."

"The award? How much are we worth?"

"Not sure, Robin didn't say."

Gideon grins, "Well.. it better be a lot. My face is beautiful and is worth at _least_ 500k" He jokes. I was about to laugh a little in response until I heard voices in the distance.

"What?" Gideon asks me as he notices I went quiet. I put my finger over my lips, "Hide," I whisper and climb into the bushes for the second time in the past 24 hours.

Gideon did a spell that packed up the campsite before hiding beside me.

"Why must we always choose a bush?" He whispers. I shush him.

I watch as I see eight goonies walk onto what used to be our campsite. I see Mark and Gerard. I forgot about them, and the two leading the pack, Dennis and Carmen.

Dennis, one of my least favorite humans on earth. Just seeing him makes me start to growl.

"Stop growling, you sound like a dog," Gideon hisses quietly. 

"Good, maybe they'll be scared of me," I reply mutely.

"Who in the name of Fiona is scared of a dog?!" He whispers aggressively and I shush him again.

'They're gonna hear you,' I mouth at him.

Gideon makes a face at me and I look back out at the crowd.

I recognize one of the goonies.. No, that couldn't be.. Fiona _didn't_.

Gideon tenses up beside me when he notices what I noticed. "Roderick?"

**Robin Mills**

I didn't sleep after I visited Neal, I had too much on my mind.

Charlie let me stay the night in her cottage. Luckily for me, her parents are traveling, so I was thankfully able to avoid the questions about who I am if I'm the girl from the wanted posters, where I'm from. Stuff like that.

I'm grateful I've met Charlie. Not only has she shown nothing but kindness to me, she also provided me with food and saved me from those men.

The only problem is that this is only happening to _me._ I want the guys to be able to eat too and sleep on a comfortable bed, even take a shower. The plan for today is to go out and find them before the goonies did. Charlie said her parents weren't coming back for another few weeks, so we would be able to stay with her for however long we need during that time period.

I'm going to hate saying goodbye to her soon. I made the decision last night that after we find the guys, we need to travel more. It's dangerous for us and Charlie to stay here. I don't want to risk her life for mine. That wouldn't be fair after all she's done for me.

I sit up on the bed I was laying on, rubbing my temples. I wonder what time it was, and if it was still too early to begin the search.

I walk over to the window and peek out behind the curtains that had been blocking the sunlight. The sunlight shines bright in my eyes, which caused me to squeeze my eyes shut and draw the curtains back to their original position.

That's when I notice the smell of food lingering in my room. I take in the smell, It smelt amazing, but I'm not sure what it was. We never got amazing smelling food in the castle. I walk out of the room and down the small flight of stairs, seeing Charlie cooking food in the kitchen.

"Good morning," I announce my presence and sit at the table.

"Good morning," Charlie sings and pulls something out of the oven. "The food is almost done."

"What are you making?"

"Breakfast! I made some biscuits, eggs, bacon, sausage, and muffins!" She exclaims and smiles brightly at me.

I smile back. "I've never had bacon before."

Charlie gasps, "You poor thing! It's very good." She then begins to put all the food on a plate before handing it to me.

"Thank you," I say softly, genuinely thankful for what she was doing.

"Of course! It's no problem. Most of this is usually what I make for breakfast anyway," Charlie explains and makes another plate. She then starts packing up the food and putting some in her basket, "For your friends," She points out after noticing my curiosity.

"Thank you," I say again, already feeling more satisfied knowing that I achieved my mission of finding us food, even if it didn't happen the way I intended it to.

I take a bit of bacon, "Ohmygod," I say with my mouth stuffed. "This stuff is delicious!"

Charlie sits across from me at the table, "I told you!"

Once we both finish eating our food, I grab my bow and we set off, heading into the forest to look for the guys.

"I was thinking we could look the way I found you?" Charlie suggests as we walk.

"Yeah, good idea," I don't have any other ones besides that.

Charlie starts to walk in that direction. I follow her as she knows this forest better than I do. I mean she lives here, I've lived in a castle all my life, only having gone outside a couple of times.

I remember the place we're walking through. It's the area I met Charlie at, it's confirmed once I see the 'wanted Robin Mills' poster on the tree.

"I came from over there," I guide Charlie.

"Do you smell.. burning?" Charlie asks.

I sniff the air, smelling it too. "Yeah.. Maybe it's the guys. They could've set up a fire."

"Okay.. let's check that direction then come back this one," Charlie says and navigates her way towards the smell. I start thinking about how she'll get along with the guys. Out of the two dumbasses they are, I think she'll get along best with Neal, she reminds me of him in a way.

Charlie abruptly stops and gasps. "What? What's wr-" I cut myself off as I see what she gasped at.

The village, not Charlie's- another one, was burnt down to ashes.

"Oh nonono," Charlie says and runs into the ex village. I follow her, wondering what happened.

"Some of my friends lived here!" Charlie says, the sound of panic in her voice, "Oh god, I hope they're alright."

I start to investigate the scene, checking the piles of rubble to see if there were any clues about what happened.

My hands became dirty as I dug, but it was worth it when I say a recognizable pendant. The pendant was beautifully crafted, the middle of it having a raven symbol while the rest of it was a smooth surface. I turned it over to see if it belonged to the person I thought it did.

F.S was carved in cursive. F.S also stands for Fiona Sangster.

I knew it. Of course, only she would be so obsessed with finding us that she would burn down villages out of rage.

"Charlie?" I say and walk over to her. She looks devastated and understandably so. "I know who did this."

"Was it.. her?" Charlie mumbles, talking about Fiona and I nod. "I found the pendant she always wears."

Charlie takes it from me and examines it. "She destroyed this place... all because you and your friends weren't here. I hate her."

"Yeah me too."

"What if she's going to my village next? Oh, Robin, we have to tell everyone!"

She's right. We need to arrive there before Fiona does, even if I have no idea where she is.

**Gideon Gold**

"Roderick?" I tense up. Roderick wouldn't help them willingly.. At least I don't think so.

I don't know which one I would find worse, Roderick purposely helping them find me, Neal, and Robin, or Fiona turning him into a goonie. Both options are not good whatsoever.

"Nooooooolannnnnnnnn, Gooooolllllddddd," Dennis chanted. "We know you're hereeeeee. Come out come out whereverrrr you a- ow!" Carmen cut Dennis off by poking him with a stick.

"You don't sound the way you think you do. That isn't gonna make them show up. Check the bushes!" Carmen demanded and I gulped.

I see Neal grip his sword out of the corner of my eye. Does he sleep with that thing next to him? My god.

I panic as I start to see Roderick and Mark digging through all the bushes around us.

"What's the plan?" I whisper frantically to Neal.

"Let's exterminate some goonies!" He says with a determined look on his face.

"Yes, prince charming. Let's just ambush a group of goonies, that's a fantastic idea," I protest sarcastically.

Neal rolls his eyes. "Did you forget you have magic now, Gold?"

Of course, I didn't. I just didn't think it was fair to fight any of them with it. I didn't _want_ to hurt any of them, especially Roderick, but I also didn't want Neal to get hurt either.

"On my count..." Neal whispers and I nod.

"1...."

Mark starts walking over to our bush.

"2...."

Mark starts to dig through our bush and that's when Neal shouts "3!" "Motus!" I yell which causes Mark to fly backward.

The goonies notice. It's not like I was trying to be nonchalant. Neal and I pop out of the bush and the goonies that are all here start running towards us. 

Roderick ran towards me, that's just great. He starts swinging punches at me. I think about the combat training sessions Neal would have with Robin and me and I start using the blocking techniques I learned, even if I wasn't good or strong at them.

Roderick could sense the hesitation I had when It came time for me to be offensive and used it to his advantage. He punched me right in the stomach which caused me to tumble onto the ground.

Neal's fighting Gerard and Dennis on one side of me, them having to dodge his sword swings (Show off, I thought), and Carmen's helping Mark on my other side. 

Roderick hovered over me, and then the next few events from then happened so fast. 

Mark had gotten up and joined in Neal's fight, kicking the sword free from Neal's grasp. He caught it in the air and started using it against Neal. The fight had started to move closer to us, but Mark seemed unfazed. Neal, on the other hand, noticed how I was on the ground, about to get recaptured by my ex-crush. He tried to back out of his fight to help me, but Mark didn't seem to want to have that. 

Mark swung the sword around everywhere, trying to slash or stab Neal with it, but the problem was, he didn't know how to use it. "Mark put the sword down!" Dennis yelled at him, "We aren't supposed to hurt them!" 

Mark didn't listen and ended up stumbling down, as he stumbled down, the worst thing that could happen in this situation happened. 

_He accidentally slashed Roderick with his sword._


	9. First Experience With Grief

**Charlie Flynn**

I've never run so fast in my life.

The village that we were just currently at wasn't too far from mine, but still, it was a little ways to go, and we needed to get there before the black fairy does.

I never knew what the black fairy was capable of until now. I never would've guessed she would go this far just to get to three teenagers.. I guess Robin and her friends must be pretty important.

I do want to know more about Robin and what it was like for her with the black fairy, but I didn't want to overstep my boundaries or make her think about any trauma she might have from it.

For right now, my number one priority was making sure everyone in my village is safe. I will _not_ let the black fairy harm them, and I know Robin won't let her either. She seems to despise her (understandably so).

When I first saw Robin, I recognized her from the poster immediately, but I never thought she was dangerous. She never gave off that vibe, and I was sure of it when I started to have a conversation with her.

Plus, if she wanted to hurt me by now, she would've. I don't think she will, and I have good instincts. I know that this girl just wants to _live._ Both her and her friends, and I hope that I'm helping her finally have that chance.

As soon as we arrived back at my village, Robin turned to me. "Alright, you live here, where should we go first?"

"The pub," I say simply as that's the place most of the people in my village hang out.

"Alright, let's go," Robin started to walk but I grabbed her arm. "One, you're going the wrong way," I tell her, "And two, it's not safe for you to go waltzing in there. Go to my cottage, I'll come when I'm done, okay?"

Robin looked like she wanted to protest, but I could see how she always knew I was right. "Okay, but if you see Fiona, come to me. If she sees me she won't come for you."

I hated the idea of that, letting her return to the black- _Fiona._

Although I hated it, I also admired her bravely. I nod and she nods back to me, starting to walk in the direction of my place. As soon as I saw her disappear, I set off to the pub.

The pub is a little ways outside my village, but it would be quicker just to go here and warn everyone then go door to door in my village. I reach the entrance to the pub, the smell of rum intensifying. I hated the smell, I always do, but I pushed the door open, hearing the bell go off.

I look around. The pub was packed. That's good. I'm sure there are more people in there than just my villagers, but it's probably a good idea to spread the word out as far as possible.

I walk up to the bar where I'm greeted by the bartender Holly.

I give her a warm smile. "Hey, Holly."

"Charlie! How are you today?" Holly asked enthusiastically.

"I'm fine," I answer, about to start talking about the reason I'm here, but Holly continued to talk over me.

"Can you guess what time of the year it is?" Holly started to make my usual drink, not even having to ask what it is.

I was about to answer with spring since spring was about to approach us, but then I remembered a birthday. The most celebrated _birthdays_ in the land.

"Let me guess, the twins' birthday?" The twins are Prince Gustin and Princess Mariah Whittaker, two of the most respected royals. Every year they host a ball for their birthday, or well, the king does, and everyone with any sort of status is allowed to attend. You have to be lucky to even get an invite.

"Yep!" Holly sat my drink in front of me. I wasn't in the mood for a drink, but I took a sip anyway.

"And this year it's a masquerade," Holly adds.

"Oh wow, something different," I say with a hint of sarcasm in my voice. "Holly.." I interrupted her this time. I know that was rude of me, but there was no time for any more chit chat. "Gardenia was destroyed by the black fairy." (Gardenia was the name of the village)

Holly's eyes widened. "What? Is everyone okay?"

"I don't know," I say and frown. "Everyone was gone when I got there. This is what I came here to tell you. I think we should evacuate Uganda, she might be heading towards us next."

"We can't just ask everyone to pack up their lives, Charlie."

"We can if their lives are in danger! She's after those three kids who escaped! She's not gonna stop until she's found them, _Holly."_ I snap. "If you just get Franklin to tell everyone in here that-"

Holly put her finger up. "Let me stop you right there. Franklin is not going to tell people to leave, not when they bring in business." Franklin is the manager of the pub.

I scoff at that. "He cares more about his money than people's lives?!"

Holly frowns a little, "I believe you, Charlie. I do, but there's no evidence she's coming here."

At that moment, I knew that I had to take a stand.

"Fine, if you won't do it, I will," I say and get up, walking to the middle of the pub. I ignore Holly's yells for me as I stand on a table. I apologize to the people who were sitting at the table.

"Hey!" I yell. No one looked except for a few people. "HEY!" I yell again, even louder this time. That made the whole pub go quiet.

I feel nervous with all of the attention all of the sudden, but what I need to say is important.

"The black fairy destroyed Gardenia! It's only a matter of time before she comes to us, next! You don't have to listen to me, but she _burned_ Gardenia to the ground! Who knows what'll happen to us. I think we should all leave, for our safety. But it's up to you." I command as if I'm a leader. I see Franklin running over to Holly out of the corner of my eye.

The expressions of everyone in the room were mixed. Some had anger, some had confusion, some had scared, some had misbelief.

"And why would the black fairy be after us?" A man across from me says.

"Because she's after those three kids who escaped her castle. Melodramatic if you ask me." Another man answered, I look over and see that he was sitting at the bar.

I agree with him. It is very melodramatic of her to be burning down villages just because she can't find what she's looking for.

"How do you know it was her who burned down Gardenia?" Franklin was the next to ask.

Oh crap. How do I answer this? Robin has her pendant, and even if I did have it, how would I explain that it's hers? F.S could be anyone!

Luckily for me, a lady in the corner of the room spoke. "It was her, I'm from Gardenia. Or was." She walked to the middle of the room and I got down off the table. "Her and her... her minions made us all stand there and watch. She burned down cottages out of rage. I ran here. I agree with her," The lady points at me. "No one should have to sit and watch their own home get torn apart and burned down, especially when you knew it could've been coming."

Just then I heard the bell to the pub ring alongside gasps and screeches. I turn around to look at the door and see a lady, wearing all black with long jet black hair, two people following behind her.

Oh god, I think that's Fiona.

The lady next to me started to tremble in fear.

She's here.

**Gideon Gold**

_He accidentally slashed Roderick with his sword._

But the only thing I could see at that moment was the guilt and fear that was in Roderick's eyes.

"Gideon," He whispered and started falling to the ground. I made a swift movement to catch him, laying his head on my lap.

"It's okay, Ricky. It's okay. I'll fix you. I know a spell," I whisper to reassure him, hoping the spell will work.

 _It has to work_. I don't know what I'll do if it doesn't. I can't go through what I felt seven years ago when I thought I lost him the first time. I can't go through actually losing him.

I placed my hand over his wound and started to recite the healing spell..

But it wasn't working.

I started to panic. "It's not working, why isn't it working?!" I keep trying the spell, tears starting to form in my eyes from the stress of the situation, and from the fear of losing Roderick.

"Gideon," Roderick mumbles and grabs the hand I was trying to cast the spell with, my other hand playing with his hair. "It's okay."

"It's not okay!" I cry out, "You're dying, and I can't save you. It's my fault."

"Don't you dare blame yourself," Roderick says weakly? I could practically see the pain he felt just from the tone of his voice. "I'm sorry if I hurt you."

I shake my head, ignoring the eyes of Neal and the goonies that are watching us.

"You didn't hurt me, I'm fine," I assured him and started rubbing circles on the top of his hand.

Roderick groans in pain and I pull him tighter towards me. "Just promise me one thing.." He begins.

"You're gonna be fi-" "Gideon, please." I nod a little to let him continue.

"Promise me you won't go back to that castle, and if Fiona tries to make you, you'll stop her."

He says as if there aren't four goonies next to us who want to do just that.. not important, Gideon.

I felt the tears that had been building up to fall down my cheeks. "I promise," I choke out.

"Good.." Roderick whispers before his whole body goes limp.

NO! _NO!_

"Roderick?!" I cry out and start shaking him. "Wake up! Come back! Please! I can't lose you again.."

That's when I start to sob. I felt so many emotions that I've never felt before, and I couldn't process the fact that someone that I've cared about so deeply for so long just died in my arms, and I never got to tell him how I felt.

"Gideon-" Carmen started, a sound of pity in her voice.

Wow! Didn't know she could feel that!

I put my hand up, only now noticing all the blood that was on it. "Don't!" I hiss and Neal rushes over to me, pulling me into a hug.

I gently put Roderick's body on the ground and cling onto Neal as if it was the last time I was going to see Neal, too.

Neal rubbed my back as I cried through the pain. "I liked him, as more than a friend," I whisper to Neal. I didn't want the goonies to know.

"I know," Neal murmured and I looked over at the goonies, specifically at Mark. I don't know what expression I'm giving him exactly, but he has a scared look on his face, a look that screams _oh shit, don't hurt me for what I just did to him._

I still need to teach him a lesson for playing around with a sword like that.

I stand up, looking straight at Mark, ignoring all my other surroundings. I feel all this magic build up inside of me as if I'm about to explode.

And that's just what I plan on doing.

I started releasing all the energy that I was channeling. Mark could see this and dropped the sword.

Good, be scared.

I scream and _let all the magic out._

I didn't know what it was going to do, but Mark ended up flying halfway across the area we're at.

"MARK!" Carmen screamed and Gerard lunged for me. I threw him back not nearly as far. "Are you going to try next, Dennis?!" I say, frustrated from Gerard thinking he could interfere.

"Gideon, stop!" said Neal. "You're hurting them!"

"They killed Roderick!"

"It was an accident! But either way, don't stoop to their level!"

I turn and look back at Neal. He's right. I'm being just as bad as them, and Roderick wouldn't have wanted me to do this.

I relax my body a little, to calm down the magic inside of me. I turn my head back to look at Dennis and Carmen...

But my neck was met with a sword.

**Robin Mills**

I was eating a cookie I had found in a jar when I saw Charlie storm into the cottage. She was panting.

"Are you okay? You look as if you've seen a ghost," I ask her.

"Well, I saw Fiona, if that counts," she replies and I drop the cookie.

"You saw who?!" I rush towards her. "Are you okay?!"

"Yes, yes. I'm fine. She showed up at the pub, but I managed to escape. But we have to go _now!_ She's coming!" Said Charlie, frantically. She runs into a room and I start breathing heavily.

It's fine. It'll be fine. Charlie probably knows the woods better than Fiona does. I grab my small bag of things that Charlie had given to me, along with the spellbook and my bow. Charlie ran back into the main room after a few minutes with a bigger bag.

"Where are we going to go?" I ask her, not being entirely sure what the plan was.

"We're gonna go find your friends. I've promised you that. Then, if the village is up in flames, we'll go to my uncles. He lives far off this route, she won't find us there." Charlie sounded so sure, so sure that Fiona wouldn't find us.

But it's Fiona, she always knows somehow. Just like right now.

Charlie rushes to the kitchen to start packing food when there's banging on the door. I hold back my scream and run over to Charlie, who had started to speed up her packing when there was banging on the door.

She slings the back over her shoulder and grabs my hand. "Back door," She whispers and jocks over to a window a little ways from both doors.

Smart. She's gonna make it look like we went in a different direction than we did. I jock to the back door and unlock it with my magic, hurrying out of it. Charlie runs out of it shortly after and closes it.

"This way!" She whispers, shouts, and runs straight into the woods.

As we were running, I was in deep thought. I admired Charlie. She was able to just pack up all her things and leave at the moment. I can't even tell what emotions she's feeling right now. That's why I feel so guilty, making her leave behind everything like this. And it wasn't like it wouldn't have happened even if she didn't meet me, it would've still happened anyway. It would've still happened all because I didn't want to be at the castle anymore. It's all my fault.

I follow behind Charlie as we run, grabbing her wrist and stopping her when I hear voices.

 _"Gideon, stop!"_ I hear faintly in the distances.

"The boys," I mumble and run in that direction, Charlie following behind me.

**Neal Nolan**

I need to act quickly.

Carmen has _my_ sword against Gideon's throat. MY SWORD! TO GIDEON'S THROAT!

The audacity.

I moved forward to interfere with the situation, and Carmen pushed the sword harder against Gideon's neck. "Don't take another step, Nolan. If you know what's good for you," she threatened and then jumped when we all heard the sound of an arrow shooting.

Carmen, Gideon, Dennis, and I all look in the direction that the arrow seems to have come from. It came from Robin. I swear she has miraculous timing.

Robin uses Carmen's own words against her. "I suggest you put the sword down, Carmen. If _you_ know what's good for _you_."

I look and see the red-headed girl that was standing next to Robin. I'm assuming that would be Charlie.

She's very pretty- but now is not the time to be thinking about pretty girls.

"Oh yeah? What are you going to do? Shoot me?"

"Well, If you want to have the same fate as that tree.."

Carmen puts the sword down and I rush to Gideon's side. "I'll take that," I mumble and snatch my sword back from her. Those goonies had it for far too long.

"Fiona is nearby. I suggest you leave these two alone and go find her. And if you even _mention_ that you saw us, these arrows are enchanted and will always find their targets," Robin glared. My god. She's angry.

"Let's go, Carmen," Dennis says and scurries away, Carmen behind him.

I store my sword on my belt and run over to Robin, pulling her into a hug when she lowers her bow down. "Thank god you're okay."

"Thank god _you're_ okay, more like."

Robin pulls out of the hug and looks over at Gideon, who was now kneeling next to Roderick's body. I felt so bad for him.

"Is that..?" Robin started but couldn't finish her sentence from the shock, so I finished it for her. "Yeah, it is. Mark did it."

Robin moves quickly to get to Gideon's side and pulls him into a hug, similar to how I did, but it seems as if he hugged her tighter. I get it, he's closer with her than me.

I turn around and look over at Charlie. "Charlie, right?"

She nodded. "Yes.. are you Neal or Gideon?"

"Neal," I state and shake her hand before bringing her hand up to my lips and kissing it gently.. only to be a gentleman, you know?

I could see a blush rise to her cheeks as she looked down. She moves her hand away from me and starts digging in her basket, "Here," She hands me an apple. "You must be hungry."

"I am, thank you," I smile at her and she smiles back before I take a bite of the apple.

Gideon and Robin walk over to us next, Gideon levitating Roderick's body.

"Charlie, do you know any places where we could.. bury him?" Robin asks and gestures to Roderick. Charlie frowns at the scene in front of her but nods and starts guiding us to a spot.

"Gideon, this is Charlie, Charlie, this is Gideon," Robin introduces them and Charlie gives Gideon a small smile before handing Gideon an apple as well.

"Thank you," Gideon mumbles. I know he isn't being rude on purpose. This is his first time losing someone.. my first time, too. I never was close to Roderick.. but watching him die like that.. was horrific.

Charlie didn't seem too offended, she looked understanding, rather.

We arrived at a spot and Robin and I started to dig a hole, Charlie helped too after sitting her stuff down.

"That was his childhood best friend," Robin tells Charlie which causes Charlie to frown. "Oh no.. he looks so torn up."

"Yeah. It's his first time losing someone.. unless you count.. our parents," I say.

"Gideon, it's done," Robin announces and gets up, dusting the dirt off her hands. Gideon lays Roderick's body in the hole we had made. The four of us cover it back up before standing in front of it.

"Do you need a minute?" I ask Gideon and he nods.

"Let's go," Robin whispers. The girls and I walk little ways away from Gideon. Not too far to the point where we would get separated again, but far enough to where he could have a moment without us overhearing.

We left an unpleasant sight just to cross another one. We came across a village on fire. Charlie gasps loudly from beside me and bursts into tears. I guess this was her village.

If I had known Fiona would've done something like this, I would've never have left the castle in the first place.

I was tempted to pull Charlie into a hug. Even if we had just met, I'm an affectionate person and it looks like she needs one, but Robin hugged her before I could.

Gideon joined the group when he was done with all he needed to say. He looks at the flames from the burning buildings. "Is that because of us?"

Charlie pulls out of the hug and wipes her tears away. "No, it was her. It's none of your faults." She says to reassure us even though she was the one who needed it more.

"Off to my uncle's place, I guess," Charlie sighs and starts walking. Robin looks over at Gideon and me, giving us a _follow her_ look before doing so herself.

"Can we trust her?" Gideon whispers to me when we start moving, talking about Charlie.

"If Robin does, so do I."


	10. Uncle Peter's

**Neal Nolan**

The road Charlie is leading us on is odd looking. It's nothing how I would've pictured a road to look like. We're surrounded by trees, and the ground is gravel. It's very hard to walk on, but we're managing.

Charlie and Robin are walking in front of me and Gideon, leading the group.

I look over at Gideon, who looks as if he's about to pass out. I can't blame him, he's emotionally exhausted, and going on this journey isn't going to help with that.

"Do you need to sit down?" I offer him, seeing as he might need to.

"I'm fine," Gideon says with a straight face and I give him a look.

"No, you're not. We both know you're not."

"I'll just rest when we arrive there, okay?" Gideon says quietly and I just nod.

Gideon eventually ran up to join Robin and Charlie, leaving me to walk alone. I'm not upset with him for wanting her company and not mine. Robin has always been his comfort person, and he didn't see her for a whole year, but he saw me.

Charlie noticed I'm walking alone and stopped, leaving Gideon and Robin to continue walking and for me to catch up with her.

"Hey," She says softly and starts walking when I walk next to her.

"Hey," I reply.

"I was just wondering if you need to take a break? Robin and Gideon say they're alright, but I wanted to ask you too."

That's thoughtful of her. How did Robin find such a nice girl like her to be on our side?

"Gideon's not fine, but he isn't going to admit to it. I'm alright though. Do you know how much longer we have?"

I grip my sword more than I already was. To be honest, Charlie could be leading us to our death, and I need to be prepared for that. Nice could just be acting, but Robin doesn't seem to think so, and Robin has pretty good instincts.

"Maybe an hour or so, we're not that far now," Charlie answered.

"Thank you for helping Robin, by the way. And us. I hope you know what you're risking by doing this."

"I do," Charlie states. "But it would be unfair of me to be aware of your situation and not help you."

I smile a little at her, "Well I appreciate it."

Charlie smiles a little at me as well before running back up to Robin. "We need to turn up here," I overheard her say.

We made it to Charlie's uncles by nightfall. Charlie told us to stay put while she went and talked to her uncle. That left me with Gideon and Robin, standing a little ways from the big cottage that he lived in.

"She seems nice," Gideon says when Charlie walks away. Robin nods. "She is, actually Gideon, there's something I wanted to talk to you about."

I assume she's talking about the spellbook that she told me about. "But it can wait until we know for sure that we can stay here," She added.

Charlie walked out after a few minutes, practically skipping towards us. "I have good news and bad news."

"Tell us the bad news first," Robin says.

"I would, but I have to tell the good news first. The good news is that my uncle is letting you guys stay here.. the bad news is that he's only letting you three stay if you do work around the place."

Gideon scoffed. "I didn't leave being a slave just to become one again," He tried to walk away, but I grabbed his arm, pulling him back.

Charlie frowned. "I'm sure I can convince him to pay you guys."

"Come on, Gideon. It's a good deal," Robin whispers to both of us.

Gideon sighs and gives in. "Yeah, okay. But only if I get paid," He says and points a finger at Charlie. Charlie salutes at him. "I will make sure of that. Let me show you where you guys are staying."

Charlie leads us into the cottage. It's a big place for a cottage, though the living room looks about the size of two cells from Fiona's castle put together, which isn't that big.

The kitchen is larger than the living room, and the stairs are right in the middle. There's a man who's sitting in a chair that's in the living room. I assume that's Charlie's uncle as he has red hair like her.

"Uncle Peter!" Charlie announced and walked over to him. "This is them," She says and waves her hand at all of us. "That's Neal, Robin, and Gideon."

"Welcome," Uncle Peter says. "I'm sorry about the situation you guys are in."

"That's quite alright," I speak up. "It's better than what we were in before."

Gideon, who seems like he didn't want to talk much on the subject, spoke up as well. "Where are our rooms?"

"I'll show you guys. There are only four bedrooms, so we'll have to split it two and two," Charlie says and begins walking up the stairs.

I've never had a bedroom. I'll admit, I'm a bit excited.

"I'll stay with you," Robin says to Charlie before Gideon or I could answer.

Charlie directed me and Gideon to the bedroom on the left. It isn't much, but it has a bed, and I only cared about having a bed. I set the very few things I have down before running and jumping onto the bed. "Oh my god," I moan. "This is so comfortable."

Gideon lays next to me, staring at the ceiling.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I ask, knowing that he was obviously still upset about what happened to Roderick. Anyone would be, and it's not like it's been months, only a few hours.

Gideon shakes his head. "I just want to sleep," He whispers. I hope he doesn't think that this is all a bad dream that he'll wake up from if he falls asleep.

I nod at him and get up. "I'll be in the other room," I state and turn the light off, leaving the room and shutting the door behind me.

I don't know what room the girls are in, but I hear giggling down the hall, so I walk towards it. I find the room that's the source of the giggling, and I knock on the door.

"Who is it?" One of them called out, I can't make out who.

"Neal," I reply and the door opens, Robin standing behind it. "Just you?"

I nod and walk in when Robin moves out of the way. Their room looks different, it's the opposite of mine and Gideon's, just more furniture.

"Gideon's asleep," I say as I can feel both of them wondering where he might be.

"That'll be good for him," Charlie says and Robin adds to her sentence. "Yeah, it's been a long and hard day for him. We're about to sleep, too."

Now I feel as if I'm invading. "Oh, do you need me to leave?"

"Nah, Charlie has something she wants to ask you anyway."

I raise an eyebrow. "Oh?" I looked over at Charlie who was pulling clothes out of the drawer.

Robin slaps my arm out of nowhere. "Stop making those eyes at her, you just met her." She hisses at me.

"What eyes?"

"You know, the eyes you make whenever you're about to flirt with someone. It's not that kind of question," Robin rolls her eyes.

" _Oh_ ," I reply.

Charlie turns towards me. "You have a sword, and Robin says you know how to fight with it?"

"Sort of, not really. I haven't had it long."

"Don't be modest, you're a natural, and a good fighter too," Robin says who was now laying on the bed.

I blush from feeling flattered.

"I was wondering if you could teach me? I've never had any fight training and all of you have weapons."

"You did well during the fight with those guys," Robin points out.

"That was just luck," Charlie shrugs.

I'm honored that she wants me to teach her, as she hasn't even seen my fighting skills. I personally think I'm not the best fighter, but Robin and Gideon seem to think that I'm the best they've seen. I know there's better.

"Sure, yeah. We can train tomorrow after work or whatever," I said coolly.

"Cool," Charlie answers, and I could tell she was holding back a grin.

**Robin Mills**

The next day wasn't as tough as I had been expecting it to be. The chores I was tasked with weren't difficult at all. Let's just say, I've done harder stuff for Fiona when I was younger.

I'm also getting paid for this, which is something Fiona would've never even dreamed of doing.

The first chore I completed was picking fruits and vegetables from the garden. I placed them all in a basket and carried them to the kitchen. I spotted Charlie making lunch and decided to help her with it, even if I wasn't supposed to.

Neal had to feed the animals in the barn. That seems like the perfect job for Neal. As for Gideon, he wasn't awake yet. Charlie convinced her uncle not to condemn him for it, as he had just lost someone important to him.

Now, since we completed all of our tasks, I'm outside. I'm sitting on a log with the spellbook, hoping to practice some spells before the end of the day.

Then, someone, who I wasn't expecting, sat next to me.

It's Gideon.

"Practicing spells without me? I'm hurt," He jokes. Who told him about the spellbook?

Although, I'm happy to see that he's in a better enough mood to be his usual, sarcastic self.

"In my defense, you were asleep, and you're cranking when we wake you up... Who told you about the book?"

"Charlie," Gideon shrugs. "I asked where you were and she said you were out here studying with the spellbook... Where did you find it?"

"That's actually an.. interesting story," I start, debating if I should tell him I found it in his father's castle.

"An interesting story is exactly what I need to hear right now, honestly."

He's right, so I decide to tell him. I explain how Charlie and I were running from some men that were trying to take me back to Fiona, and how we stumped among a castle. I explained how that castle belonged to Rumpelstiltskin .. Gideon's father and how I found both the spellbook and my bow there.

I look over at Gideon when I finish the story, his brown eyes blinking rapidly. "Wait.. so you found it in my father's castle?"

I nod at him and he pouts. "I want to go! But it wouldn't be smart.. Fiona probably knows about it."

"Yeah, that's why Charlie and I didn't stay long. We left when we knew the men did."

Gideon and I just sit there for a moment, as I can tell he's deep in thought. I need to talk to him about another thing.. Something Neal told me he did.

"Let's get started on the spells, shall we?" Gideon stands up but I gently grab his wrist. "Wait, there's one more thing I need to talk to you about."

I can see a bit of annoyance on Gideon's face, as Gideon is the type of person who hates waiting.

"Neal told me about what you did to Mark," I say when he sat back down.

"Well damn, did he tell you my whole life story while he was at it?" Gideon mumbles.

"Don't be like that. He was worried. I'm worried too! You need to be more careful, Gideon."

"I couldn't control half of it!" Gideon argued. "I was angry and it just kind of.. happened, but I wanted it to happen, too." Gideon continues before I can say anything else. "Magic like that always comes with a price, I know. And if it comes back to bite me in the ass well.. that'll be my fault."

I frown at him. "Maybe we can figure out a way for you to channel all that anger onto something else."

"Like what? A tree?"

"Yes, actually," I stand up and walk. Gideon runs after me.

I find a big tree and pat it. "That'll work. Pretend this tree is Mark," I suggest and back up.

"Are you sure this'll work? What do I even do?"

"I don't know.. attack it. Let that energy out on the tree."

Gideon looked skeptical like it won't work, but I believe it will. Gideon stays saying spells and throwing balls of magic at the tree until he eventually got to the point where he didn't even need to say the spells for them to work.

I knew it would work, I think proudly.

Gideon stops after a while and looks over at me panting. "That was fun," He says.

"You looked like a badass," I grin and him and walk over, high fiving both of his hands.

"You give it a go now," Gideon says to me and repeats the same motions I did when I told him to do it.

I look over at Gideon before looking at the tree, closing my eyes and pretending it was Fiona standing there. Pretending it was Fiona taking her away from her mother as a baby, as if I have to put a stop to it.

All the spells I know ran across my mind, but I put my focus on one. I conjured a ball of magic in my hand (like Gideon did) and threw it at the tree, the tree taking some damage from it. I threw a few more until eventually, there was a hole in the tree.

Gideon looks at me, his mouth is agape. "My god.. What did that tree ever do to you?" I laugh a little. "You were right, that was fun."

"Told you!" Gideon grins at me and I roll my eyes playfully.

"Come on, let's actually go learn some spells now."

**Gideon Gold**

Robin and I spent the rest of the afternoon practicing spells. It would've been a good distraction if I hadn't been mostly faking my mood the whole time. I wanted Robin to think I was feeling better, which I'm not. Although, that tree experiment _did_ help.

I was about to walk back into the cottage to cry when I heard the sound of fighting. I look over and see Neal and Charlie fighting in the distance. It looks like they're sword fighting

Who let him have another sword?

Maybe I should join them.. maybe it'll be an actual distraction. If I had known how to fight sooner, maybe I could've saved Roderick..

Why not? I walked over to them and had to watch them fight for a solid minute before they noticed me. I listened to the sound of Robin shooting arrows to pass the time (as she had started practicing with her bow when we finished with magic).

"Gideon, hey," Neal says from under Charlie, who has a sword to his neck.

I smirk at him. "How does it feel to finally lose a fight?"

"Whoa, you mean to tell me I'm the first person to vanquish him? The honor I'm feeling right now.." Charlie jokes and gets off of him, Neal chuckling as well and standing up.

I don't find it as funny as the two of them do.

"What's up?" Neal asks me after putting his sword away.

"You didn't have to put your sword away, I came to ask you if you could train me too?"

Neal raises an eyebrow. "You? Want me to train you?"

"Yes.. is it so bizarre that I'm asking?"

" _Yes_!" Neal empathizes, but I could tell he was holding back a smile. "I always have to ask you to spar."

"Today is your lucky day then, Charming."

Neal glances over at Charlie. "Do you mind?" He asks her and she just shrugs. "I need some water anyway. Do the two of you want any?"

I nod quickly. I didn't realize how thirsty I was until right now. "Please," Neal says and picks up the two swords he now had.

"Okay, where did you get another sword?"

"Robin used a spell to duplicate mine."

Oh, that makes sense.

Neal hands one of the swords to me. "We'll start with swords. Sword fighting is easier to teach than fist fighting."

Neal shows me the steps. First, how to swing a sword while still being able to control it, then, he and I fought with them a little bit. He showed me how to block and disarm. I even was able to jump over his sword when he swung it at me once. This sword thing isn't as hard as it looks.. well, as long as you don't get _slashed_ with it. 

"I need a minute," I tell Neal when he disarms me. I just sit down on the ground, rubbing my temples as I had started to think about what happened to Roderick again.. How he died in my arms, how I could've saved him, how it was my fault... I didn't even notice that I started tearing up. 

Neal kneels in front of me. "Gideon, whoa, hey. What's wrong?" He asks, concerned. 

"Just.. this reminded me of what happened to Roderick is all." 

Neal frowns. "What happened to Roderick was an accident. Do you want to just stick with sparring?" 

I nod a little, still wanting to train. Neal extends his hand to help me up. I take it and stand. 

"You were doing really good, by the way. With a bit more practice, you might become just as good as me."

I scoff. "Just as good as you? I'm going to be better."

**Charlie Flynn**

After bringing the boys some water, I had two things I had done. The first thing I did was calm my uncle down, who was mad at the fact that Gideon never did any chores, and I had to explain to him how someone he cared about just died. I felt horrible for him. I didn't know that 'Roderick', but he didn't deserve to die that way. The second thing I did was prepare dinner. 

As I had been preparing dinner, I thought of an idea that could possibly help the trio's case. I had remembered my conversation with Holly and how Mariah and Gustin Whittaker's birthday was coming up. I had seen my uncle get an invitation to it in the mail, not surprised that he was invited. My uncle gives some of his crops to the royals. 

If I could get them to change his name to my name, then maybe I can get the three of them in to talk to Mariah and Gustin. Mariah and Gustin also have magic, and their family has been trying to put a stop to Fiona for years, but they've never been able to. But with Robin, Neal, and Gustin's help, maybe they finally can. 

I just need to talk to the three of them about this plan first. 

Sparring with Neal had been fun. I was happy to have learned something useful. I want to be able to help them if Fiona ever finds them again, and I'm pretty useless compared to the lot. 

They all came in soon after I had finished dinner. Uncle Peter had been the first one at the table. 

I sat down to eat once everyone else had gotten their food. "There's something I want to talk with you all about.. I think It could help with your.. you know who problem."

The three of them looked at me, hopefully, while Uncle Peter just looked at me, confused. 

"There is this prince and princess.. their names are Mariah and Gustin Whittaker, and every year for their birthday they hold some sort of ball. It's coming up and Gustin and Mariah just happen to have magic, and the Whittaker family has been after Fiona for years.. Maybe.. If you could convince them to help you guys, you could all officially be free."

"Is it even safe for us to be going? Our faces are everywhere, Charlie. You know that" Robin states. She's right, but there happens to be a solution to that. 

"It's a masquerade. We would all be wearing masks." 

"What if they don't want to help us and Fiona comes?" Gideon asks. 

"As I said, they don't like her either. If she showed up, she would be out of there quicker than she'd be able to spot you all."

"I think it's worth a try," Neal says. "I mean if they decide to help us, it would be four against one with magic, and six against one altogether."

"Don't forget about the goonies, Neal," Gideon says grimly. 

"How would we get in?" Robin asks before taking a bite of her food. 

"Well, Uncle Peter got invited," I looked over at him. "I was wondering if you could change your name to mine? I know you won't even go anyway." 

"I can try, yeah, but don't get your hopes up."

For the rest of dinner time, we all assemble our plan. Now, it's just up to Mariah and Gustin to decide what they're going to do. 

**Fiona Sangster**

I waited for my goonies to get back while I dug through my things, trying to find the one thing I'm looking for. I was bored with destroying villages, it was time for my next plan. 

I felt my hand move across a small brown box. Ah ha. I picked the box up and wiped the dust off of it. It's been a while since I've held this box, not having any need for the object that's inside. 

Until now. 

My goonies arrive back to my palace. I sit the box down before sitting myself down on my throne as they all walk up to me, but I noticed one is missing. 

"Where's Roderick?" I ask them, not really caring where he is. I just turned him into a goonie to use against Gideon. 

"Dead, Ms," Carmen states.

Wow. That's a bit extreme. I wonder which one of the runaways did it..

"And his body?"

"We had no time to grab it."

"Pity. So, where are they? Did you already lock them up in the dungeons?" I inquire, as I see no signs of the trio. 

"No, ms," Carmen looks down, "They got away." 

"YOU LET THEM GET AWAY?" I shout before composing myself. "Did you.. did you four at least find anything useful?" 

"There was another one with them. A redhead." Dennis says. 

"A redhead? What about this redhead?"

"Not sure. All we know is that she was with them."

I hum and stand up. "Well.. that can be useful. Off with all of you," I gesture for them to leave and they all do as asked. I shut the door with magic and lock it. 

I walk over to the other end of the room and pull a sheet off of something that was being covered, something I needed. 

My magic mirror. 

I found this after I had found out about Regina Mill's, and I thought _I need one of these,_ so I got myself one. 

"Magic mirror, show me the redhead that is with Gideon, Robin, and Neal," I command, and she immediately shows up.

Ah, yes. I know exactly who she is. 

"Charlotte Flynn.. so that's why you left the pub," I smirk a little as my plan was fully coming together, and they just happened to meet the one village girl I know much about. 

I strut back over to my throne to grab the brown box. I open it to reveal a small velvet bag. I take the bag out and just stare at it, feeling it to make sure the object was still inside. 

They won't be expecting this. 

I open the bag and dump the _magic bean_ into my hand, twirling it around my fingers. I smirk, feeling satisfied. 

When I find them, this bean will send them to a world that is worse than anything they've experienced before. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> two more chapters left omg
> 
> also, who is yalls favorite character? mine is either Gideon or Charlie


	11. The Masquerade Part 1

**Robin Mills**

I personally have a problem with Charlie's plan.

I understand why she suggested it, and I understand why Neal thinks it's a good idea, but I'm not willing to put my trust into two more people.

For all we know, the prince and princess could immediately send their guards on us and lock us up, leaving us to go back to Fiona.

But at the same time, we can't hide forever.

As I lay on Charlie's bed going over the plan in my head (get in through Charlie, talk to Mariah and Gustin, hope they agree to help us, use magic if they don't agree...), Gideon walks in and lays beside me.

He looks at me eagerly, as if he's been wanting to talk to me for a while.

"Where's Charlie?" He asks and I turn to face him.

"Downstairs with Neal and her uncle. I think they're going over the plan again."

That made Gideon's head perk up a little. I guess that's what he wanted to talk to me about. The plan. "Speaking of.. What do you think about the plan?"

"I think.." I trace one of the squares on Charlie's blanket as I think of what to say, "We should try it, but I'm also scared."

Gideon nods, the expression on his face showing he agrees with me. "I'm scared too. I don't want to end up back with Fiona."

"Yeah, I don't either."

"If the plan goes wrong, though, we can blast them," Gideon grins, which makes me laugh.

Charlie walks in mid-conversation. Gideon looks over at her, visibly annoyed for interrupting us, but we are in _her_ room after all.

"Robin, I have to buy material to make the gowns and suits. Do you want to come with me?"

I sit up on her bed. "I'll probably just be recognized."

"Yeah but.. I don't know what colors you want, and I'm very passionate about making people the perfect dress."

I open my mouth to say what my favorite colors are, but Gideon speaks up. "There's a spell for that, you know. To walk around unrecognized."

I whip my head to look at him with a raised eyebrow. "And you couldn't tell me this earlier?"

Gideon puts his hands up in defense. "I didn't know until I looked through the spellbook!" He defends.

"I've looked through it, I didn't see a spell like that," I argue.

"Do you want me to _show_ you?"

"Yes! Yes, I do!"

Gideon groans. "Making me get off the bed.." He mutters while scooting off the bed.

I get off the bed. "It was your idea!"

"Yeah, yeah," Gideon walks out of the room and I follow close behind him, hearing Charlie giggle at the two of us bickering when I walk by.

Gideon walks into his and Neal's room, walking over to the bedside table. Gideon pulls open one of the drawers and picks up the spellbook. I sit down on the bed and look around. I hadn't been in their room up until now.

It's bigger than Charlie's, but not by that much.

I look up at Gideon when I hear the sound of pages flipping stop. "Here," He says and hands me the spellbook.

I read through the page. I swear I've seen this page before, how did I miss it?

" **Illusory Disguise**

**How It works: Allows you to not be recognized by other people. Typically used when you need to run to the market, but don't want people to** **talk to you"**

I chuckle at that. This spell would've been nice to have back at Fiona's.

" **Duration: One hour**

 **Incantation: fac mihi ignoti partibus** "

"This doesn't seem too hard. What section is it in?"

"Easy, there's a harder version too, and that one lasts longer."

"When have you had the time to read through this?" I look up at Gideon curiously.

"I read through it last night. Wasn't tired," Gideon shrugs.

"Alright. I'm gonna go with Charlie, then. I don't know how much time she'll need." This is a true statement. The ball is tonight and I have no idea how long it actually takes to make a dress.

"Do you know what time the ball is?"

"All I know is that it ends at midnight.. Like in every story I've ever read."

Gideon makes a noise and falls back on his bed. "Have funnnn!" Gideon sings.

"I willlll!" I sing as well and walk out of the room, passing by Neal on my way out. I head back to Charlie's room.

"I have the spell," I announce when I walk back in. Charlie looks up at me and grins. "How will we know it works?"

"Well.. I'm not sure if it'll work on you or not. We'll just have to see when I cast it."

Charlie silently agrees with me and I flip back to the page in the spellbook that contains the spell. I made sure that I marked it, considering I couldn't find it the first couple of times. When I find the page, I set the book on the dresser so that my hands will be free. 

I read the incantation once more before reciting it. "fac mihi ignoti partibus," I whisper. As soon as I cast it, I feel the feel of magic running through me. I look over at Charlie, who gave me a thumbs up. 

"Can you recognize me?" I ask her and she shrugs slightly. "I can't but.. I know it's you, considering I watched you cast the spell and all."

"Good point. Should we try Neal? Or your uncle?"

Charlie chuckles a little. "My uncle would be so confused."

Charlie and I both walk into the hallway. As soon as we turned, we ran into the guy we wanted to see. 

Neal. 

Neal raises an eyebrow at the two of us and walks over. "Charlie? do you know where..." He glances over at me, confused as to why I'm with Charlie. "Who's that?"

"That's Robin," Charlie gestures at me with a grin, which made Neal look even more confused. Poor Neal. 

"Why don't I recognize you?" He asks me and I pat him on the shoulder. "I casted a spell. It has a time limit so I'll fill you in later but thank you, now I know it worked." I smile at him and walk off, leaving a very puzzled but amused prince charming behind me. 

* * *

"How do you think I would look in red?" I ask as I hold up a long piece of red fabric against me. 

Charlie glances over at me "Really good. It matches your skin tone." She then continues looking at fabric and silk to make the guys' suits. "What colors would the guys look good in?"

I walked closer to her, waiting for the people near us to walk away so I could answer. "Blue for Gideon, purple for Neal," I whisper. 

"I was thinking green for Neal, but purple might work better actually."

"You're the one making them, so it's up to you really."

"I don't want them to _hate_ what they're wearing."

"Trust me, they won't. If they do I'll hex both of them."

Charlie holds back a laugh and puts blue and purple fabric into her basket. "If you see a color you like, just let me know." She says and walks a little way to look at the darker shades of fabric. 

I want something simple and to the point, so I remain where I am. I look through all the different colors that are on the shelves. It looks as if a rainbow has thrown up in here.

I end up coming across a very pretty rose gold fabric. I could care less about my dress, but something inside of me was telling me _this is the one_.

I walked away with the fabric to find Charlie, who was holding a dark pink fabric when I found her. 

"I guess we had the same idea," I grin at her and hold up the rose gold fabric. Charlie gasps and slowly takes it from me. "That's gorgeous!" 

Charlie puts the fabric down in her basket after gushing over it. "If I didn't already find this color, I would steal this one from you."

I snorted. "Bold of you to assume I would let you do that... The spell wears off in ten minutes. Do you have everything?" 

Charlie nods. "Everything else is at the cottage. My aunt sewed a lot before she..." Charlie trails off, a sad look filling up her face. 

I didn't ask for her to continue. I can tell what she was going to say.

"Anyway. She would make me a ton of gowns. I had this really pretty one back at my cottage that she made but.. Well, you know what happened there. I'm trying to remake, actually, but It still won't be the same."

"Yeah, I get it." I would do the same if I was her. "Are you going to have time to finish everything by tonight?"

"Oh, yeah," Charlie says instantly. "Though, if you could use magic to help, that would be great."

"I'll definitely help if I can find a spell."

**Neal Nolan**

The girls are taking longer to get ready than it took me and Gideon. 

To be fair, Gideon and I didn't really do much. Charlie had made us matching suits, just only the tops are different colors. 

Our masks match our tops, and I did my hair a little so it looked more presentable. 

"Do you know how we're getting there?" I overhear Gideon ask Charlie's uncle. 

"I'm taking you four on my wagon." 

"Oh.. Okay."

"It'll be the two of you if they don't hurry up-" Uncle Peter muttered but got caught off by a coughing sound. 

I turn and look in the direction it came from, laying eyes on Charlie. 

I already thought she was beautiful, but now... she's breathtaking. 

Her dress is dark pink with slivers designs flowing down it, and her shoes and mask both match the designs. 

Robin walks in shortly after her, her dress looking similar and her hair flowing down her shoulders. Robin's dress is rose gold, with gold flower designs all over. Same as Charlie's, Robin's shoes and mask match. 

"Well? How do we look?" Robin asks, looking between me and Gideon.

"Gorgeous," Gideon grins at them, while I'm at a loss for words. 

"Neal?" Robin raises an eyebrow at me, and it's only then I realize that I'm still staring at Charlie. 

"Awesome, yeah," I mumble. "I'm gonna go get my sword," I say and run up the stairs. 

I shut the door to Gideon and I's room. Compose yourself, Neal. You've been around pretty girls before. 

I wonder if she thinks I look dashing. 

I grab my sword and attach it to my belt. When I arrive back downstairs, everyone looks like they're about to leave. Robin was wearing her bow and arrows on her back now. 

"They aren't going to let you two in with weapons," Charlie's uncle told the two of us when we walk out the cottage door. 

"We can just leave them at the front or something," I answer and follow Charlie and Gideon into the wagon. 

Uncle Peter ties one of his horses to the front of the wagon and climbs on it, the wagon moving after he commanded the horse to walk. 

"Okay, let's go over the plan one more time," Robin says and leans forward to the middle of the wagon as if we're all about to whisper the plan.

I guess it's a habit. We always had to be quiet about these things when we were with Fiona, and we were with her a lot longer than we have been without. 

"Neal, you're going to act as if Charlie is your date."

Oh no, I forgot about that. 

"Gideon, you and I are each other's breeders." 

I burst out laughing after she said that. "That reminds me of the time you two fake dated to get Fiona off your backs." 

Charlie joins the conversation. "You two did that?" 

"Shhhhh, dark times," Gideon jokes. "We don't talk about that."

Robin fake gasps, "What? Was fake dating me really that horrible?"

"Yeah! You never even spent time with me!"

All the laughter from the wagon faded into the darkness after an hour. Our laughter turned into gasps as we came across the Whittaker Palace. 

"I've never seen it so close before," Charlie says, who was practically leaning off the wagon to get a closer look at it.

"It's nicer than Fiona's, I'll give it that," said Gideon cooly, but we could all see him staring in awe. 

Uncle Peter navigates the horse into the line that is filled with carriages and horses. We probably look like the odd ones out. 

The wagon pulls up to the front of the palace. I can already hear the music that was inside from the outside. Gideon and I get off the wagon first and help Charlie and Robin off. 

"Thank you," Charlie smiles at me and Robin looks around. 

"Thanks. Neal, I think that's where we need to put our weapons," Robin points to a big basket with a sign that says ' **NO WEAPONS ALLOWED PAST THIS POINT** ' 

"Yeah, I think so too," I agree and walk over to the basket, carefully placing my sword down into it while Robin just throws her bow and arrows in, which causes me to gasp. 

"Be gentle with your bow!" I hound her. 

"Neal, you care about your sword way more than I care about my bow.. in terms of gentleness that is."

I huff and walk back over to the group. "You guys ready?" Charlie asks us. 

"Ready," I hold my arm out and Charlie connects hers with mine, then we set off, having no idea that this night would turn into the worst one of our lives. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was originally going to be longer but then I was like.. let me add all the drama for the finale


	12. The Masquerade Part 2 [FINALE]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry

**Gideon Gold**

I didn't want to get out of bed that morning, I'm still hung up on what happened to Roderick, but I remembered my promise to him. I promised him that I would stop Fiona, and if going to this ball meant stopping Fiona.. that was enough for me.

We got in easier than any of us had expected, thanks to Charlie. 

_"Hi, Peter Howells should've written and changed his invitation to Charlotte Flynn?"_

_The guy checking everyone off the list groaned, seeming to be annoyed with having to search for her name. He looked oddly familiar, to me at least, but I couldn't figure out why._

_"Ah yes, here you are."_

_"Great," Charlie beams at him and puts her hand on Neal's arm. "This is my date, Wren, along with my cousin Margot and her date James. I hope you don't mind that I brought so many people."_

_The guy smiled painfully before taking a look at all of us, the smiling turning into a different emotion, an emotion that made my stomach uneasy. "Not at all... go on in."_

The look from the guy immediately left my brain as we entered the ball. I didn't think I would ever be the type to be fawning over the gorgeousness of a castle, but here we are. 

The inside was just as beautiful as the inside, but I couldn't make out much of it as people were dancing everywhere. I did notice the staircase in the middle of the room, there are two different stairways that meet up to create one. There's a ribbon that is twisting and turning all down the railing. 

There's a piano in the corner of the room with a pianist behind it, powerfully playing music that is echoing all throughout the ballroom. 

I notice Robin, who was still attached to my arm, is looking at everything in awe as well. Fiona's castle never looked like this. Her's was always dark and dusty, she would've never even have thought about having a party. 

Then again, who would come besides everyone she holds captive? Everyone else is afraid of her.

I look back in front of me after I've finished looking all around the room, seeing Neal extending his hand. I take it he's asking Charlie to dance. 

I can tell he likes her, I saw how he was looking at her back at the cottage a few hours before. I'm still not quite sure how I feel about her yet, though. 

Charlie and Neal walk over to the group of people dancing, and then Robin comes into my view. "I don't think you want to dance, do you?" She asks me, already knowing that I don't particularly want to. 

"I'm not opposed to the idea, but no."

"I don't want to either. Is that.. _cake_?"

I turn my head to look in the direction that Robin is now facing, only to come across a table I hadn't noticed before. The table is filled with all sorts of sweets, small sandwiches, fruit and vegetables, and other things I couldn't make out from the distance I am. 

Before I get a chance to answer, Robin is already halfway to the food table. I hurried after her, not realizing how hungry I was until now. 

There are so many options to choose from at the table, and I ended up grabbing the sandwiches, stuffing my face with them while Robin eats a square chocolate cake looking thing. 

"I don't think I've ever had a sandwich so good," I say with my mouth full and Robin wipes the crumbs that were on her lips off with a napkin. 

"And that was the.." Robin trails off, not sure what to call the thing she just ate. We never had anything like that before. 

"Well, it was the first I had of whatever that was."

"Let me try one," I say and pick one up, taking a bite of it, feeling as if I'm melting from the taste. 

"I need the recipe for this.. Like now."

"Maybe Charlie knows how to make them."

As if she overheard us, I hear Charlie laugh in the distance. I look over in the direction of the laugh and see that she's still dancing with Neal. 

After a few more sandwiches, the soft music stops, and something a bit louder begins to play. This song must be pretty important because everyone rushed to the center of the ballroom. Robin and I both join the group of people to see what is going on, pushing our way through people to get to Neal and Charlie who are at the front. 

That's when I see two elderly people, both wearing crowns. I assume that's the king and queen. Everyone in the room bows at them and I awkwardly bend over, not having any experience with bowing, ever. Is there a certain way to do it? 

Then, when we all straighten back up, I see two people walking on the stairs. Both of them coming down different sides. On the left, there's a guy. He's wearing a black suit, a matching black mask, and his black hair is tied up in a man bun. On the right, there's a girl who's wearing a long, flowy blue dress, a beautiful mask that was more of a design than a certain color. Unlike the boy, her black hair is down at shoulder length. The two meet at the top of the staircase and begin walking down towards the crowd, everyone watching them closely.

I'm assuming these are the Whittaker twins. 

The two greet their parents and the father does a hand gesture. I can recognize it as magic, but not what spell it is. 

The king silences the pianist and his voice suddenly starts echoing throughout the ballroom. "Welcome! To the annual Whittaker ball!" 

I glance over at Princess Mariah and Prince Gustin, noticing the two of them standing there awkwardly. I can tell neither of them doesn't want to be here. I'm not fond of being here either, and it must be even worse having the attention on you.

"Now! For the annual birthday dance!" The what?

Mariah and Gustin make their way towards the crowd, Gustin taking the hand of some girl and Mariah making her way over to our group. 

I thought she was about to ask Neal, or maybe Robin, but she stands in front of me. 

"Do you want to dance?" She asked casually. 

"Er- Sure," I reply awkwardly. 

Robin raises an eyebrow at me while I take Mariah's hand, and she leads me over to the floor. 

Mariah faces me and grabs my hands, starting the dance when the music starts. I don't know what to do. I've never danced before, let alone with a girl. Mariah clearly notices this and gives me a small smile. 

"You've never danced before, have you?" She asks me, having a very thick English accent that I wasn't expecting to hear. Her dad didn't seem to have an accent. 

"Not with a girl, no.." I say to make myself seem less lame, but then realize that I outed myself, and just admitting that I can't dance probably would've been better. 

Her smile doesn't fall like I had been expecting, though. "Ah, I see. It's rather easy, just follow my lead." 

Mariah steps backward and I step forward. It didn't help how I could feel everyone watching us, which is something I didn't want. 

"Don't worry, you're not the first person I've met at one of these balls that doesn't know how to waltz," Mariah states to reassure me.

I realize how this is my chance to propose the deal that the four of us had come here to make. "Well, I didn't exactly come here to waltz," I spun her around as I talked. 

"Was it for the food?"

"No.." I glance at Neal, who nods at me, giving me permission to talk to her (as if he read my mind) about the situation. Not that he needed to do that, of course, but I needed to be sure the timing was appropriate.

"No, not that either." 

Mariah doesn't answer, instead, she just gives me a curious look, waiting for me to continue. 

"I'm sure you've heard of the black fairy," I say, rather quietly but still loud enough for Mariah to hear. 

Mariah must be pretty smart because it dawned on her instantly. "You're one of the runaways, aren't you."

My face paled. What if she turns me, Neal, and Robin in now? "How- You know about me?"

"Everyone in the land knows about you. Don't worry, I'm not going to take you back to her. I applaud you for being able to escape, actually. Just.. don't let my parents find out. They'd just send you right back to her."

I wish I can understand why they would want to. They don't seem like they necessarily _need_ the prize money. 

I glance around and look at the other twin. "What about your brother?"

"He could give less of a flying fuck about it, honestly." She says, which causes me to giggle. 

As the song comes to an end, Gustin departs from the girl he was dancing with, and the group dissolves back into their own world, but Mariah continues to stand in front of me. I see Robin and Neal making their way up to us out of the corner of my eye.

"So, why exactly did you come here? It's a big risk, you being here." Mariah looks over at Neal and Robin as they approach. "All three of you," She states but seems kind of surprised about all of us being here. 

"We were wondering if you and your brother could help us, be fully free from her. Since you have magic _and_ a royal status," Neal implies. 

Mariah thinks about it for a second. "I'm not sure how exactly you guys want me to help you but.. I will. I can't speak for Gustin, but I'm sure he will." 

All three of us grin at her. "Thank you, really," Robin says and Mariah shrugs a little. "I don't like her either.. Let's talk more about this later. My parents are going to want me to talk to all the princes. They want me to get married," She says grimly before walking off. 

Neal and I high five. 

"She asked me to dance with her," I grin at him. I wasn't grinning because it was _her_ that asked me to dance (because I don't like girls), I'm grinning because someone actually asked me to.

Neal grins back at me. "I know, I saw."

Charlie basically skips up to us. "So? How did it go?" 

"It went great. She agreed to help us," Robin tells her, and Charlie cheers, earning a few annoyed stares from people. Neal sent them all a death glare. 

"Wait, Charlie Charlie Charlie," I say as I remember the chocolate cakes. I grab her arm and lead her over to the food table. "Do you know how to make these?" I ask and point at them. 

"Brownies?" 

"Yes! Do you know how to make brownies?"

"Yeah, of course," Charlie nods. "Do you want me to make you some sometime?" 

"Please. Robin too," I say. 

I look over and see Robin and Neal swiftly walking up to the two of us. Speak of the devil. 

They both looked panicked, neither of them seeming to be able to speak. 

"What's wrong?" I ask them, looking puzzled. 

"We have a problem," Neal manages to say and puts to the entrance of the ballroom.

I look over, seeing Carmen, Dennis, and Gerard walk in. 

That's when It dawned on me. The guy with the list earlier.. was Gerard. 

Well shit, now we're in trouble. 

**Neal Nolan**

"Wait- If the goonies are here, then that means-" Gideon gets cut off by gasps and cries from the crowd. None of us needed to look and see who it was. We can feel her presence.

How does she know we're here? Is the only thought that is running through my mind. 

"We need to go, _now,_ " Robin commands, and we start running the opposite way from the door. 

We have no clue where we're going. We don't know this castle, but that's when I notice Mariah looking right at us, pointing behind the staircase. 

She's helping us. 

Luckily, the goonies and Fiona are on the other side of the ballroom, so we have an advantage. 

"This way," I tell the group and grab Charlie's hand, as she's the closest one towards me. I make my way behind the staircase, Charlie, Gideon, and Robin following right on my heel. 

That's when I was greeted by double doors. I looked back over at the crowd to see if we had been spotted. We hadn't. Good. I swing open the doors and hold one open so the others can run through, following behind them. It led to a hallway with a door at the end. We all silently agree that we should go through them and bolt in that direction. 

We all fought our way through the doors that led to the outside world. We're back in front of the castle. 

"Neal- Our weapons!" Robin remembers and starts running to the weapon basket. I'm not doing this without my sword. There's no way. 

We get there and Robin pulls out her bow and arrow and I grab my sword. I was about to attach it to my belt when she stopped me. 

"Wait- Give your sword to Charlie."

She did _not_ justask me to give up my sword. 

"You can have my bow. Charlie needs a weapon, and you only trained her with your sword." 

Robin's right. She has magic, but Charlie doesn't have anything. I walk over to Charlie and hand her my sword. "Use this."

She takes it from me. "Thanks." 

I nod while Gideon eyes me weird. Weird as in ' _why did you just give up your sword?'_

Robin hands me her bow before throwing her mask on the ground. "Can't see," She mumbles and we all repeat that action. We all agree that we should go back to Charlie's uncles, so we run into the forest, passing Fiona's carriage that had a portable cell attached to it. That only confirmed what we had all already been thinking. 

We ran through the forest, hearing the sound of horses. Fiona must've realized quickly that we weren't in the ballroom. 

We have to get to Uncle Peter's and we have to get there _fast._

Just then, Robin's foot gets caught and falls. as if a spell had made the root grow. All hope of us out running Fiona's carriage is lost as we all realize that Fiona can see us better than we can see her. Robin tries to get up but she cries out in pain. 

I rushed to her side and helped her up, Gideon as well and Charlie examines her. 

"What hurts?" Charlie asks her. 

"My ankle. I think I sprained it." 

That's when I made a choice, one I know that Robin would be against, but I didn't care. I look over at Gideon, sending him a silent signal to him saying what I wanted to do. He catches on and nods. 

Silent communication is something Gideon and I picked up while being with Fiona, as we had to silently communicate most of the time. 

"Charlie, take Robin and get the hell out of here."

"What? No! I'm not leaving you two!" Robin protests and I just shake my head. 

"You can't fight with a sprained ankle!"

"Robin, please," Gideon pleads. 

I can see Charlie looking at me with concern. She doesn't want to leave either, but she knows she has to. 

"They're right, Robin," Charlie says quietly to her and Robin sighs in defeat. 

"Alright.. but if anything happens to the two of y-"

I cut her off. "Nothing is going to happen to the two of us." 

Robin looks skeptical but allows Charlie to wrap her arm around her waist. Charlie hands the sword back to me, but I shake my head, wanting her to keep it in case she needs to use it. Plus, I still have Robin's bow. 

"Thank you," I say to Charlie before looking at both of the girls. "Now go!" 

Charlie didn't think twice and started heading as quickly as she could to her uncle's cottage. Gideon and I begin to run in the direction we were already running, hoping to distract Fiona from the two of them.

Because if Fiona is taking anyone tonight, I would rather it be me than them, especially not Charlie. I don't want Charlie to ever have to go through what I endured with Fiona. 

As we run, I hear the sound of people running towards us. 

Oh god, not the goonies. 

"There's like 15 of them!" Gideon exclaims, who had turned back to look at them. 

I stop, knowing that Gideon and I won't be able to get out of this without a fight. "That's okay. We can take them."

"Maybe YOU can, but I-"

"Gideon now is not the time to belittle yourself!" 

Gideon shuts up and gets ready to blast the group of them, and I point an arrow at them. I distinctly look at Dennis, who just smirks at me. With a flick of his wrist, the bow flies out of my grasp. 

Huh?!

Gideon's jaw dropped before getting thrown back by.. Mark. Mark is here, and he and Dennis both have magic. 

"See how it feels now, Gold?!" He shouts and Gideon groans from the ground. 

The group of goonies all form a circle around us. 

"Where's Robin?" Carmen asks and I shrug. "Don't know."

"You do know, and what about that redhead? What's her name.. Carlie?" Dennis asks. 

My fists ball up. "What do you know of her?!" I yell, which causes Dennis to smirk. 

"Maybe you should ask her the next time you see her- or should I say.. if you see her."

I hear Gideon get up from behind me, mumbling the spell which knocked some of the goonies to the side, breaking the circle we were in.

I didn't bother to find Robin's bow, she wouldn't be mad given the circumstances. Gideon and I race by the circle, but not all the goonies had gotten hit by Gideon's spell. 

"Stupefy!" I hear one of them yell, which causes my body to freeze. I couldn't move, not even my finger. 

The spell didn't hit Gideon though, as he kept running, not noticing I wasn't beside him. And I intend to keep it that way. If I call out to him, he'll come back for me, and I want him to be able to escape this. I'm not letting him go back to that witch. 

The goonies walk up to me, grabbing my hands and tying them behind my back, a few of them running after Gideon. 

I hear Fiona's voice yelling at all the goonies to retreat before they dragged me to that portable cell, throwing me into it. 

**Gideon Gold**

I hadn't even noticed Neal wasn't next to me anymore until it was too late. I had been able to outrun the goonies, but in doing so, I got lost. I have no idea where Robin and Neal are. 

I start running more, my legs wanting to give out. That's when I came across Charlie and Robin. I stopped in front of them, panting and feeling as if I'm about to collapse. 

"Where's Neal?" Charlie panicked. 

"They got him," I say, starting to tear up.

"How the hell did they get him?!" Charlie yells. 

"I don't know! They all had magic!" I argue and I can notice how Robin is also starting to tear up, but she limps in between the two of us. 

"Okay, guys, guys. Neal's though. He'll be able to hold on long enough for us to get to him. Do you have any clue where they went, Gideon?" 

I shake my head. "I can't even remember where I ran here from."

Robin looks as if she's about to panic now. "Okay.. okay. It's fine. What's a spell that can help with that?"

"A locator spell," I state and Robin grabs the sword from Charlie. "Would this work as the object?"

I nod and Robin sets the sword down on the ground. I say the incantation to the spell and the sword floats up into the air, starting to fly in the direction that Neal is. 

"Magic is so cool," I hear Charlie say, who has wrapped her arm around Robin again, I do the same and start following the sword. 

We were able to catch back up with Fiona's carriage, having to hide from a few goonies in the process. The horses that were leading the carriage weren't running anymore like they were earlier. The three of us keep our distance and follow the carriage. We spot Neal in the cell, but he doesn't notice us. 

I feel horrible for leaving him there, but I'm going to save him. He's going to be okay. 

But at that moment, I hadn't realized that Neal wasn't the only one that I needed to protect from Fiona. 

The carriage made an abrupt stop, and Robin wiggled her way out of Charlie and I's grasp, charging at the carriage the best she could with her sprained ankle.

"Robin!" I hissed, but she didn't hear me. We still weren't that close to Fiona, but I could see her figure in the distance. I knew she could see Robin coming for her, but she didn't move, instead, she threw something that I couldn't make out until I saw Robin starting to fall into a pit of green.

Oh my god, Fiona has a magic bean! 

Charlie and I run as quick as we can and grab Robin's hands, to keep her from falling in all the way. 

"Pull her up!" I yelled at Charlie, as I wasn't successfully able to do so. 

"I'm.. trying.." Charlie groans loudly. 

"Guys, It's pulling me in!" Robin yells loudly, and I can see Fiona starting to walk towards us. 

"Fiona's coming! Hurry up!"

When I look back down at Robin, I can see her looking at me sadly. "Gideon, I'm going to fall through one way or another. Let go, please.. Get away from her."

"I'm not letting go of you!" 

"You have to! It's pulling me in, I'm going down either way." 

Tears form up in my eyes. I know she's right, but I didn't want any of what would happen to happen. I didn't want any of this to happen. 

Charlie had already let go of Robin's hand. I knew I should let her go too, but I didn't want to yet. 

"Gideon! Let me go!" Robin commands. 

I look down at her with tears running down my face. "I'll find you!" I say...

And I let her go. I heard her screaming as she fell far down into the portal, and I was about to jump in after her, but the portal closed. 

I panicked on the inside as I saw Fiona getting closer.

I didn't care what happened to me anymore, but I know Neal would break out of his cell (And Robin would magically come back from wherever she is now) to kill me if I let Fiona get to Charlie. 

Though, if that brought them back, then..

I pushed that thought out of my mind and quickly thought of spells. 

"Gideon!" I hear, not even sure if it's Fiona or Charlie. 

I then remember the spell that I was trying to think of. I put my hand on Charlie's shoulder. 

"Forgive me," I whisper, but not exactly directed to Charlie, but also to Neal and Robin.

"Wha-"

"Lanuae Mmagicae patrui petrus est scriptor," I say, hearing Fiona yell "NO!" as we teleport back to Charlie's uncles.

I fell on the porch there, my knees basically giving out. Charlie looked as if she was about to throw up. 

I just sit there, my brain still not fully processing everything that has just happened. Tears stream down my face as I realize why this all happened..

"This is my price."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO sorry for ending it like that.. but it had to be done. thank you to everyone who kept reading this book.. and there will be a sequel (obviously- I'm not just gonna let robin and neal go like that), and it should be out sometime at the end of January, whenever I finish writing my julie and the phantoms fanfic (which you should read if you like jatp and si-fi). since it'll be a bit until the next book, I'll give you guys a hint as to what's to come..
> 
> a new character (who is from the once upon a time series) and new villains who are not fiona or the goonies! 
> 
> be sure to be checking my tumblr euphoricsx for updates on book 2!
> 
> also sorry that its super sloppy towards the end, i got tired as i had been writing for three hours


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